The Flying Pig provides students with a fun way to study circular motion. The pig and its string trace a conical pendulum and allow a perfect opportunity for calculations and measurements of circular motion. Students should be familiar with forces, specifically centripetal force, and how it is calculated. Students should also know the definitions of the fundamental trigonometric functions and how they can be used to find the sizes of parts of a right triangle.
Required Equipment
Acknowledgements: Thank you to Paul Robinson for his assistance in developing this lab. Paul has taught high school physics since 1974. He is a long-time member of AAPT and is currently Program Chair, Historian, and Section Representative. Paul is also the author of the Conceptual Physics lab manuals.
