For my final Action Project in my math and science class (Light & Sound), we all learned about a time keeping device, I chose the pendulum.  This was an extremely interesting project, mostly because I got to research Galileo, who in my opinion is the best engineer ever.  Although this project was interesting, it was hard to figure out the math of the concept.  Building the prototype of a pendulum was equally difficult.  See my report below.

 

My device looks is a pendulum.  It consists of two metal poles to hole it up, and a rope with a metal bar on the end to go from side to side hitting the metal poles and making a sound.  Every one second it hits the bar, each time it hits the first bar, hits the second bar, and goes back to hitting the first bar it completes one cycle.  The math behind a pendulum is pretty simple once you figure it out:

 1 cycle equals three seconds.
30 cycles equals one minute.
1,800 cycles is one hour

X = Cycle
Z = Seconds

10x = 30z
100x = 300z

In 1602, The Italian scientist Galileo Galilei studied the property of a pendulum. Galileo discovered the crucial property that makes pendulums useful as timekeepers, called isochronism; the period of the pendulum is approximately independent of the amplitude or width of the swing. The pendulum is an extremely key device in history for timekeeping. When Galileo invented it, it was instantly a famous and amazing idea. It goes on forever all by itself and requires very few materials. When technology wasn’t available back in the 1600’s, a sundial was the most precise timekeeping device.

References:
“Cleveland Museum of Natural History.” Foucault Pendulum. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2013.
Drake, Stillman. “Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography”. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003. Print.
“The History of the Pendulum.” Bukisa. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2013.