The Coriolis effect and coupled oscillations in a rotating swings amusement ride
Schilder, Jurnan P. and Pendrill, Ann Marie LU
(2024)
In European Journal of Physics
45(2).
- Abstract
Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the vertical. However, sometimes one can notice empty swings moving in a different pattern in an outdoor ride, where wind can induce additional motion, sideways or back to front—in addition to any oscillations caused by a tilted carousel head. This paper focuses on oscillations for the simpler case of a non-tilting roof. Even for this case, the oscillating motion is found to be complicated by the Coriolis effect, which leads to a gyroscopic coupling between sideways oscillations and back-to-front... (More)
Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the vertical. However, sometimes one can notice empty swings moving in a different pattern in an outdoor ride, where wind can induce additional motion, sideways or back to front—in addition to any oscillations caused by a tilted carousel head. This paper focuses on oscillations for the simpler case of a non-tilting roof. Even for this case, the oscillating motion is found to be complicated by the Coriolis effect, which leads to a gyroscopic coupling between sideways oscillations and back-to-front oscillations. This coupling is illustrated for a few special cases.
(Less)
- author
- Schilder, Jurnan P.
and Pendrill, Ann Marie
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- amusement park physics, Coriolis effect, equivalence principle, oscillations, pendulum motion, rotating swings
- in
- European Journal of Physics
- volume
- 45
- issue
- 2
- article number
- 025002
- publisher
- IOP Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85184838304
- ISSN
- 0143-0807
- DOI
- 10.1088/1361-6404/ad1ed6
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- bcb67f72-1549-4807-b800-c5dcb5fe6b67
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-22 15:26:56
- date last changed
- 2024-02-22 15:27:25
@article{bcb67f72-1549-4807-b800-c5dcb5fe6b67,
abstract = {{<p>Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the vertical. However, sometimes one can notice empty swings moving in a different pattern in an outdoor ride, where wind can induce additional motion, sideways or back to front—in addition to any oscillations caused by a tilted carousel head. This paper focuses on oscillations for the simpler case of a non-tilting roof. Even for this case, the oscillating motion is found to be complicated by the Coriolis effect, which leads to a gyroscopic coupling between sideways oscillations and back-to-front oscillations. This coupling is illustrated for a few special cases.</p>}},
author = {{Schilder, Jurnan P. and Pendrill, Ann Marie}},
issn = {{0143-0807}},
keywords = {{amusement park physics; Coriolis effect; equivalence principle; oscillations; pendulum motion; rotating swings}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{IOP Publishing}},
series = {{European Journal of Physics}},
title = {{The Coriolis effect and coupled oscillations in a rotating swings amusement ride}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad1ed6}},
doi = {{10.1088/1361-6404/ad1ed6}},
volume = {{45}},
year = {{2024}},
}