The Macintosh And The Pendulum

Yves Pelletier has released a neat application which simulates a pendulum for the purposes of studying kinetics and motion on the Macintosh, YP Simple Pendulum. YP Pendulum allows students to study force, motion, and energy. According to Mr. Pelletier:

Yves Pelletier just released YP Pendulum 1.0, a new software product used to study the kinematics and the dynamics of a simple pendulum.

YP Simple Pendulum simulates a simple pendulum, allowing to study its motion, the forces exerted on it, and its various forms of energy. It is easy to change the suspended mass, the length of the string and the maximum angle between the string and the vertical. During the animation, up to 6 vectors (tangential velocity, tangential acceleration, centripetal acceleration, total acceleration, weight and tension) and up to 9 graphs (angular position, angular velocity, tangential velocity, tangential acceleration, centripetal acceleration, total acceleration, forces and energies vs time) can be displayed. The program also computes the period of the pendulum.

YP SImple Pendulum is available for US$20. You can find more information at the YP Software web site.