CLOCK TECHNOLOGY:
HOW PENDULUM & MECHANICAL CLOCK WORKS
Here,
the author will explain how the pendulum clock or pendulum clock works and the
Mechanical Clock.
Pendulum Clock
(Pendulum)
Pendulum
clock is an ancient item
that used to be very popular, maybe some people still have it in their home.
The
clock that looks like a cupboard, then at the top there is a circle that shows
time, like the clock we now know, then at the bottom there is a pendulum that
swings right and left. It was a very popular pendulum clock in the 18-19
century.
Understanding The Pendulum
The
pendulum is interpreted as "pendulum that depends on a rope (chain and so
on) or a relatively long hanger". The simple pendulum is a load that is
hung by a rope or it can also be a load that is hung by statif (iron rod). The
weight of the load must be far greater than the weight of the rope / stative
that hangs it. Simple pictures like this:
Example of a simple pendulum. Red: pendulum, Blue: rope.
When
a pendulum is moved / swung it will occur back and forth. In a perfect vacuum,
this alternating motion will continue continuously because there is no air
resistance (Hk. Newton 1).
Concept of
Oscillation / Knocking
Oscillation
or knock is the concept of repetitive movements regularly / regularly. Galileo
had previously defined that one of the simple pendulum traits was the movement
back and forth to its initial position (1 oscillation / knock) needed the same
time even though the distance traveled by the pendulum was different. Try to
observe this picture:
Simple pendulum
Based
on Galileo's observations, the time needed for the pendulum to move from point
3 (as the starting point) then to point 5, swinging towards point 1 and
returning to point 3 will be the same if the pendulum moves from point 3 (as
the starting point) then goes to point 4, swing to point 2 and return to point
3. This can be proven by yourself at home.
So
the travel time from the starting point to the first maximum position point
(right) then turns to the second maximum position (left) and returns to the
starting point to be stable (fixed) at a specified time unit (a few seconds).
Pendulum
The
nature of this pendulum supports the calculation of time, because the motion of
the pendulum exposed to air resistance will not affect the calculation of the
amount of oscillation. If interested, please see the demo video here (English):
How Pendulum Clock works
Now
the movement of the pendulum from returning to its original state can be
calculated in a certain unit of time. Suppose for one movement to return to its
original position it turns out that it takes 0.5 seconds. Then it is called 2
oscillations / second. This is the frequency concept that we have learned in
junior high school:
f
= beat time
f
= nt
Simply
stated, you also know that we can calculate time based on the number of beats of
the pendulum. Suppose the pendulum moves 2 times in 1 second. So if he moves 20
times means the time running is 10 seconds.
The
pendulum oscillation movement is only influenced by the length of the
pendulum's arm / arm and the moment of its inertia. So by making a standard
length of rope / pendulum arm we will be able to determine a certain unit of
time.
For
example, so that a pendulum can move one oscillation per second, then the
length of the pendulum arm is around 0.994 meters. That is if the pendulum's
arm is a piece of rope whose mass is very small compared to the load.
This
means that if the pendulum arm is made of metal and the mass is somewhat
larger, the length of the arm must be reduced. Here is the role of the designer
pendulum clock to make a pendulum design with arm length and standard material.
This
is what underlies why the pendulum clock is up to one large closet. Because
many designers designed the clock to make one oscillation every second, so the
length of the pendulum arm was approximately 1 meter.
The
design, mechanism of the gear wheel on the inside of the clock and how to
detect the beats is rather difficult for me to explain because it needs to
understand images in 3D. If you are interested you can learn here (English):
How the Mechanical
Clock Works
After
the development of the pendulum clock, then in the 17th century we entered the
era of portable clocks. This begins with the discovery of an object that is
able to perform repetitive oscillation movements regularly. The object is a
spiral spring (spring).
The mechanical clock component uses a spring
By
using oscillating movements from the spring, we can record time more precisely
because the spring movement can be far more sensitive than the pendulum. A much
faster spring frequency also makes clock accuracy even higher. Please see how
it works here (English):
If
previously many used the pendulum clock with an accuracy of one oscillation /
second. Then with this spring clock can reach 144 oscillations / second. This
means that the existence of this spring clock increases the accuracy of the
clock to 10 minutes per day compared to the pendulum clock.
Because
the spring clock is portable and even becomes a watch, the size of the
components is getting smaller. The small size of the components must be
supported by a smooth and non-resistance gear surface.
The
smaller the clock, the more slippery gear and components are needed so that
there is no resistance in touch between gears. Because the resistance is there
because the rough gear surface can reduce clock accuracy.
Because
the required gear parts are slippery and perfectly resistant, this is what
makes hourly prices soar on the market.
Maybe
now you see the use of diamonds at the clock displayed on the outside as
ornaments. But the craftsmen of watches in the past used diamond-class stones
to be made into the inner gear of the clock because the material properties
were very slippery, hard, strong and not affected by magnets. That's what
causes the trend of the price of watches that are crazy even today.
Conclusion
From
the explanation above, it can be concluded that the basic concept of the
workings of pendulum clocks and mechanical clocks is to calculate the frequency
of repetitive movements (oscillations) that occur in the pendulum or spring.
In
addition, at this time scientists have known that oscillations also occur in
atoms in the form of waves, so waves on these atoms can be used as new concepts
in more accurate measurement of time.
Reference:
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