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Question 6: A wire hangs from the top of a dark high tower so that the top of the tower is not visible. How you would be able to determine the height of that tower?

Answer

The height of the tower can be easily determined if we tie a mass with the hanging wire. If the wire is set into vibration, it will behave as a simple pendulum.

Connect some mass with the end of the wire. Take a stop watch and set the pendulum in vibration. Calculate the time period of the pendulum. You may find the time of, say ten vibrations, and divide it by 10 to find the time period of the pendulum.

Now equation of the simple pendulum is

π and g are constants. Use the value of T you just calculated in the above equation and find the length of the wire. As the wire hangs from the top of the tower, it will give you the height of the tower.

Note that ℓ gives you the length of the wire and if the wire is above the ground (and principally it should be) add the remaining part to the length of the wire.

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  1. Pingback:Conceptual Questions on Oscillation, Physics 11 – msa

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