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  Session: Developing Experimental Skills at all Levels
  Paper Type: Contributed
  Title: Normal Modes and Symmetry Breaking in Single Two-Dimensional Pendulum
  Meeting: 2016 Summer Meeting: Sacremento, California
  Location: N/A
  Date:
  Time: 3:00PM
  Author: Arvind Arvind, IISER Mohali
+919888564456, arvind@iisermohali.ac.in
  Co-Author(s): Paramdeep Singh
  Abstract: A two dimensional pendulum is expected to execute planner oscillations if the observation time is small compared to one day, so that the effect of the coriolis force can be neglected. What if the cylindrical symmetry of the suspension is broken? It turns out that such a pendulum with a controlled symmetry breaking can be turned into a pedagogical tool. We have developed an experimental setup to demonstrate normal modes and symmetry breaking in a two-dimensional pendulum. The broken cylindrical symmetry leads to non-degenerate normal modes of oscillation whose interplay gives rise to complex motion. This motion has several qualitative and quantitative features that help us use this experiment to teach three concepts: normal modes, symmetry breaking and appreciating the difficulties associated with building a Foucault's pendulum.
  Footnotes: None
  Presentation: arvind-presentation.pdf

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