This animated Shockwave activity explores pendulum motion by displaying the patterns traced by the tip of an ideal pendulum. Swing it back and forth from different heights and change the length of the string. But now it gets more complicated: the user can jump to another planet to see how changing gravity affects the motion of the pendulum. Students will also explore why the pendulum traces out a flower-shaped pattern rather than a straight line. (This occurs because of Earth's rotation -- making it seem as though the pendulum is turning when, actually, the earth is turning.) The simulation can change the rate of planetary rotation to show what the pattern would look like on a fast or slow-spinning planet. The game ends by putting all four variables together.

Please note that this resource requires Shockwave.