![]() ![]() ![]() The direction of our paper is closer to the second category. These insights should prove especially valuable in the undergraduate physics classroom, where investigations into pendulums and oscillations are commonplace. Our analysis contributes a computational exploration of the complex harmonic motion that can result from radially driving a pendulum and sheds light on a mechanism by which oscillations can be amplified parametrically. ![]() We propose and show by a numerical model that appropriately timed radial forcing can increase the oscillation amplitude in a manner consistent with Poe's story. In this manner, radial driving can easily and intuitively be understood, and the fundamental concept applied in many other areas. We discuss parametric amplification and the transfer of energy (through the parameter of the pendulum's length) to the oscillating part of the system. We first show that increasing the length of an undriven pendulum at a uniform rate does not amplify the oscillations in a manner consistent with the behavior of the scythe in Poe's story. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, we investigate a radially driven, lengthening pendulum. ![]()
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