What is a ballistic pendulum?
Ballist pendulum is a device used to achieve kinetic energy and bullet speed. The development of the ballistic pendulum was an important event in the history of ballistics, which made it possible to proceed significantly. Today, other devices are used to study bullets, but the ballistic pendulum lives in physics classes around the world, where it is used to provide a simple introduction to concepts such as momentum. In classrooms, for safety reasons, a "weapon" with a spring "weapon" is usually used.
The design of the ballistic pendulum is quite simple. The device consists of a weight connected to the arm. The weight has a wooden block attached, which is designed to capture the bullet when it is fired on the block. Knowing the features of the pendulum and the bullet characteristics can be fired by a bullet in the pendulum, taking into account how far it travels, and use this information as the basis of several equations to determine speed and collect further information about the ball movement.
This device seems to have been developed in England in 1700s. Benjamin Robins, a British mathematician and ballistics expert, is often attributed to the development of a ballistic pendulum. His book from 1742 new principles in Gunnery introduced a ballistic pendulum and explained how it can be used. Robins noted that one can also use the device by attaching a weapon to the pendulum, by firing and recording the move of the pendulum after the explosion.
18th century came the development of ballistic devices that could directly measure speed, causing more accurate and easier measurement. However, the basic principles behind the ballistic pendulum are still healthy and such devices can be used with different projectiles, not just bullets. Historically, the ballistic pendulum has been used if you want to measure the momentum of everything from a bullet to a cannon ball, and provide great information that has not yet been available to the ballistic community members.
in the classics classes are studiesNts sometimes shown a demonstration or film with a ballistic pendulum to learn about maintaining momentum and maintaining energy. Students can be asked what types of calculations can be used to collect the bullet movement information, and can be asked to physics after moving bullets and pendulums.