Predicting the influence of plate geometry on the eddy-current pendulum

• DOI: 10.1119/1.4954016
• Publication Date: 2016-08-20T00:30:42Z
• Authors: Catherine Weigel; Jeremy M. Wachter; Paul Wagoner; Timothy J. Atherton
• Keywords: Physics Education (physics.ed-ph); 0103 physical sciences; 05 social sciences; Physics - Physics Education; FOS: Physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 0503 education

We quantitatively analyze a familiar classroom demonstration, Van Waltenhofen's eddy current pendulum, to predict the damping effect for a variety of plate geometries from first principles. Results from conformal mapping, finite element simulations, and a simplified model suitable for introductory classes are compared with experiments.