3 ms·
Not a coincidence. They defined the meter from the second using the pendulum formula, and the pandulum formula has a pi in it, so pi is going to appear somewher
by GuB-42 2y ago
Not a coincidence. They defined the meter from the second using the pendulum formula, and the pandulum formula has a pi in it, so pi is going to appear somewhere. The reason there is pi is probably because a pendulum is defined by its length and follows a circular motion that has the length as its radius.
We could imagine removing pi from the pendulum equation, but that would mean putting it back elsewhere, which would be inconvenient.
- mistercow 2y agoRight, that connection is not a coincidence. The connection the previous commenter drew between the meter, pi, and the circumference of the earth is a coincidence.
- hanche 2y ago> The reason there is pi is probably because a pendulum is defined by its length and follows a circular motion that has the length as its radius. It’s not quite that easy: For small excursions x the equation of motion boils down to x’’+(g/L)x=0. There is not a π in sight there! But the solution has the form x=cos(√(g/L)t+φ), with a half period T=π√(L/g), thus bringing π back in the picture. So indeed not a coincidence.