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0
as the sum of two angles,
1
and
2
.
2
0
=
1
+
2
(1)
where
1
is the angular displacement to the right of minimum and
2
is the angular displacement to the left
of the minimum. Knowing the extremes of the pendulums position then allows us to write the following
equations for the pendulum.
1
= arccos
_
l (4.858 (4.876))
l
_
(2)
5
2
= arcsin
_
l (4.477 (4.876))
l
_
(3)
The length of the pendulum, l, in this simulation is 3.611, so we can substitute into the equations for
1
and
2
.
1
= 0.0999 (4)
2
= 0.4745 (5)
Now, knowing
1
and
2
, we can nd
0
.
2
0
= 0.0999 + 0.47452
0
= pi/5
0
= pi/10 (6)
This value for
0
can now be used to let us calculate the period of the pendulum.
2.2 Calculating the Period
Now, knowing the angular displacement of the pendulum, we could use mathematics and physical equations
to calculate the pendulums period. To do this, we rst determined the kinetic energy as a function of its
position using the equation for kinetic energy with rotational motion.
KE() =
1
2
I
2
(7)
where I is moment of inertia and is angular velocity (or
). The moment of inertia for a rectangular prism
rotating about its center of mass is
I =
m(a
2
+ b
2
)
12
(8)
where m is the mass of the pendulum. (Note that the variables a, b, c, , and d are dened in Table 1.)
However, our pendulum is not rotating about its center of mass, so we use the parallel axis theorem to nd
that
I =
m(a
2
+ b
2
)
12
+ md
2
(9)
Thus, we nd kinetic energy to be
KE() =
m
2
_
a
2
+ b
2
12
+ d
2
_
2
(10)
It was also important to nd the pendulums potential energy as a function of position. To do this, we must
treat the pendulum as a point mass located at its center of mass. This makes the equation for potential
energy
PE() = mgd(1 cos ) (11)
Using the double angle formula for cosine, it is possible to rewrite this equation as follows:
PE() = mgd
_
1
_
1 2 sin
2
_
2
___
= 2mgd sin
2
_
2
_
(12)
(13)
6
Potential energy will be greatest when the angle of the pendulum is as large as possible. The angle will be
maximized at =
0
. Therefore,
PE
max
= 2mgd sin
2
_
0
2
_
(14)
Now, since total energy is constant (were ignoring dissipative forces, for now), we can say that
KE() = PE
max
PE() (15)
Given this equation, its possible to substitute our earlier ndings for KE(), PE
max
, and PE().
m
2
_
a
2
+ b
2
12
+ d
2
_
2
= 2mgd
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
__
(16)
Dividing through by m and rearranging gives
d
dt
= 2
gd
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
_
a
2
+b
2
12
+ d
2
(17)
So we can separate variables and then integrate, as follows:
dt =
1
2
a
2
+b
2
12
+ d
2
gd
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
_d (18)
t =
1
2
a
2
+ b
2
12gd
+
d
g
_
0
d
_
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
_
(19)
where t is the period of the pendulum and g is acceleration due to gravity. Using several more substitutions,
the elliptical integral of the rst kind can be solved. This is worked out in Appendix A. In order to solve
this equation we must know the initial angle of the pendulum,
0
, which was found to be approximately
10
in the Working Model simulation . Given this, we can nd the period, T:
T = 1.3022 seconds (20)
It must be noted that the damping eect of air resistance is not calculated here. This is because air resistance
is largely dependent on an experimentally determined constant, so we could not include it in our calculations
before we built the sculpture. To check whether our predictions were reasonable, we built a Working Model
simulation of the pendulum.
We created the pendulum in Working Model to have exactly the same physical properties as our real pendu-
lum. We turned on the eects of gravity (which was taken into account by our mathematical calculation)
and air resistance (which was not). The results of our simulation may be seen below.
In Figure 7, we see the pendulum at its starting position. The rectangular pendulum swings about its pivot
point, shown as a dot near the top of the pendulum. Two graphs show the position of the tip of the pendulum
as time passes. The top graph shows, horizontal (x), vertical (y), and rotational (rot) position. The lower
graph shows only the vertical position. Figure 8 shows the pendulum after several swings. Figure 9 shows
the pendulum after ten minutes have passed. Clearly, there has been little dissipation due to air resistance.
Qualitatively, then, it can be seen that air resistance has little impact on the pendulum. Given this reassur-
ance, we can return to the pendulums period.
7
Figure 7: Pendulum simulation at initial position
Figure 8: Pendulum in mid-swing
Figure 9: Pendulum after 10 minutes
8
3 Generating the Power
Now that the speed of the sculpture has been determined, it is possible to gure out how much power is
needed. The torque that runs our sculpture is created by the falling counterweights and the gear train. The
total torque is determined by taking the force of the falling counterweights and multiplying by the gear train
multiplier. The gear train multiplier was determined by the number of gears and their gear ratio, but the
dierence in mass of the two counterweights was one part we could control. We chose a weight dierence
that would generate enough torque to turn the hourglass face, while still being small enough to be controlled
by the swinging pendulum. These two numbers (the torque from the pendulum and the torque from the
hourglass face) gave upper and lower bounds for the torque we needed to generate with the counterweights
and the gear train.
3.1 Torque required to turn the hourglass face
We expected that the greatest amount of torque would be required to turn the large hourglass face. We
began with the standard torque equation.
h
= I
h
(21)
where
h
is the torque required to turn the hourglass face, I
h
is the moment of inertia of the hourglass face,
and is the angular acceleration of the hourglass face. The next step was calculating the moment of inertia
of the hourglass face. In order to do this, we assumed that the cylinder was of constant density. We let this
density equal that of plexiglas. This approximation is reasonable because the densities of mineral oil and
glycerine are fairly close to that of plexiglas.
The standard equation for the moment of inertia, I
h
, of a cylinder, is as follows, where M
h
is the mass and
R
h
is the radius of the hourglass face.
I
h
=
M
h
R
2
h
2
(22)
=
(2.584kg)(.1905m)
2
2
= .0469 kg m
2
(23)
Next we use kinematic equations of motion to determine angular acceleration.
=
0
t +
1
2
t
2
(24)
where is angular displacement,
0
is initial angular velocity, and t is time. The hourglass face stops and
starts from rest after each tooth of the ratcheting gear ticks, so
0
must be 0. We can nd because we also
know that there are 48 teeth in the ratcheting gear.
=
2
48
radians (25)
We also know how long it takes for each tooth to be passed, because we have found period of the pendulum,
and one tooth is released each time the pendulum completes a swing, so
t = 1.302 s (26)
Now we have all of the information we need to nd :
9
0.1309 rad =
1
2
1.302 s
2
= 0.1544
rad
s
2
(27)
Finally, we have both inertia and angular acceleration, and we can plug these values into the torque equation
to nd the torque required to turn the hourglass.
h
= 0.0469 0.1544
= 0.0072N m (28)
3.2 Torque from the Pendulum
If the grasshopper and pendulum are to control the motion of our entire sculpture, we need to ensure that
the torque generated by the pendulum is greater than that of the gear train and hourglass face.
We begin with a torque equation:
p
=
r
F (29)
p
= dmgsin() (30)
where
p
is the torque of the pendulum,
r is the vector from the pivot point to the pendulums center of
mass and
F is the force vector due to gravity. Recall that the physical properties of the pendulum were
dened in Table 1, where d is the distance between the pivot and the pendulums center of mass, a is the
length of the pendulum, b is the width, c is the depth, and is the density. Now, we can use the initial angle
(
0
=
10
) to solve for maximum torque.
p
= d (abc) gsin
_
10
_
(31)
= 0.5119N m (32)
3.3 The Gear Train Multiplier
Gear trains magnify the torque generated by counterweights. The gear train multiplier, M, is a constant
based on the number of gear pairs (i.e., pairs of interlocking, identical gears) and the gear ratio. The gear
ratio is the ratio between the numbers of teeth in the two gears of the gear pair. Our sculpture has ve total
gears, but one of these is the escapement gear, which does not help generate torque. There are actually two
gear pairs, each with one small gear and one large gear. Table 3 shows the properties of our gear train.
number of gear pairs gear ratio
2 2.29 : 1
Table 3: Physical properties of the gear train
Using the standard gear train multiplier equation, we can determine M.
M = gear ratio
no. of gears
(33)
= 2.29
2
= 5.244 (34)
10
Now that we know the gear train multiplier, we can write an equation for the torque of the gear train,
g
.
g
=
c
M (35)
where
c
is the torque due to the counterweights, which will be determined by the masses of the two
counterweights.
3.4 Total Torque and the Counterweights
Now we can put together the equations weve found in Sections 1, 2, and 3 to determine the masses of the
counterweights.
h
<
c
M <
p
(36)
0.0072N m <
c
5.244 < 0.5119N m (37)
Now it is possible to determine a dierence in mass for the counterweights. We rst must nd the force
generated by the counterweights, F
c
. We know that
F
c
= g |m
1
m
2
| (38)
where m
1
and m
2
are the masses of the two counterweights and g is acceleration due to gravity.
c
= F
c
r
pg
(39)
where r
pg
is the radius of the primary gear. Because we know that the radius
primarygear
= 0.0127 m, we
can combine the earlier equations and solve for the mass dierence.
0.0072N m < 5.244 g |m
1
m
2
| r
pg
< 1.162N m (40)
If we let g = 9.81, this equation becomes
0.0072 < 0.653 |m
1
m
2
| < 0.5119 (41)
0.011kg < |m
1
m
2
| < 0.784kg (42)
So we nd a that that the mass dierence constraint is realistic. We experimented with several dierent
counterweight combinations before choosing the nal dierence to be 150 g.
4 Modelling the Motion
The central motion of our sculpture is the turning of the hourglass face and the owing of liquids through it.
To achieve the gradual, graceful motion we envisioned, we built several small, prototype hourglass faces. We
experimented with liquids of varying viscosities and densities and nally chose mineral oil and a glycerin-
based solution, which owed at the rate we desired.
We did not have a strict, set goal for the rotation period of the hourglass face; we simply wanted the motion
to be slow enough to allow the liquids plenty of time to ow through the hourglass, but fast enough that
the liquids would not have too much time to settle. From this guideline, we decided that we would like the
hourglass face to rotate completely about once a minute. We then checked to see if this would be possible.
If we let N be the number of teeth on the escapement gear, T be the period of the pendulum, and t
r
be the
time needed to rotate the hourglass face, we can write the following equation.
11
t
r
= N T (43)
Since we know that there are 48 teeth on the escapement gear and we have found the period of the pendulum
is 1.347 it nding the time needed to rotate the hourglass face is a simple matter of substitution.
t
r
= 48teeth 1.302
sec
tooth
(44)
= 62.50sec (45)
So we see that the hourglass face will rotate approximately once per minute, so we will indeed achieve the
motion we desire.
5 Fabrication
We ordered the plastic gears and sprocket, the ratcheting gear, and the bearings for our sculpture from
McMaster and W. M. Berg, two material supply companies. We also purchased pins, set screws, bolts, and
nuts. We had to fabricate the plates of the gearbox, brackets that held the plates together, axles, ratcheting
gear tting, grasshopper, hourglass face, and pendulum. After that nishing the sculpture was only a matter
of putting the pieces together very, very carefully.
5.1 The Brackets
The rst components to be machined after we received the parts and material we had ordered from McMaster
and W. M. Berg (see Budget) were the brackets. These brackets are essential, not only to hold the gearbox
together, but also to prevent the front and back plates from slipping. The brackets also provided a means of
mounting our sculpture to the wall. We cut four 2 long pieces o of a foot-long 1 square bar of aluminum.
These were then milled into L-shaped brackets, and three holes were drilled through each for the bolts that
would hold the brackets in place.
5.2 The Gearbox Plates
Two identical rectangles, each approximately 7 x 8, were fashioned from 1/4 plexiglass. Since we had
already determined the necessary locations of the holes using our SolidWorks Model, we were able to use
the mill to cut extremely precise holes for the bolts, the bearings, and the set screws to hold the bearings in
place.
5.3 The Gear Train
With the gearbox plates cut, we could tap the holes for the set screws. Then we were ready to put the
gearbox together for the rst time. We inserted the bearings into their holes, secured them with set screws,
and connected the plates with the brackets. We also drilled 1/8 holes vertically through each gear. We
then took the axles cut from 1/4 rods of aluminum and put the gear train together. We experimentally
determined the best locations for each gear on its axle and marked the places. We could then disassemble
the gear train, drill holes through the axles, and pin the gears in place.
5.4 Lots of Little Pieces
While we were building the gear box we also were putting the counterweight chain together from one-foot
long pieces. We used the lathe to make a tting so that our ratcheting gear, with its 3/4 center hole could
be mounted on one of our 1/4 axles. The mill was used to machine the grasshopper. Also, we cut our
pendulum from 1/4 plexiglas and built our hourglass face.
12
5.5 The Hourglass Face
The hourglass face (see Figure ) is composed of three sheets of plexiglas. Two of these are simply 1/8 thick
circles, 15 in diameter. The third is 1/4 thick, also a 15 circle in outline, but with an hourglass carved
out of the middle. We knew that we could never cut these smooth, even curves by hand; to do that we
needed a CNC mill. A CNC mill allows the user to input CAD drawings of a part, which it will then cut
automatically. Thus, we have the three pieces of our hourglass face. The hourglass face will eventually is
epoxied to a bracket which will be mounted on the appropriate axle from the gearbox.
6 Results and Conclusions
Perhaps the things we learned most about were the diculty of precision machining, recovering from frus-
tration, and the importance of knowing the hours at Home Depot. The type of clock-like mechanism we
have built requires near perfection in machining. The skills needed to machine perfectly were ones that we
certainly did not possess at the beginning of this project and still do not, although were signicantly more
skilled than we once were. Many hours of frustration preceded our improvements, though. Of necessity, we
have all learned to recover from these frustrations quickly to work toward constructive solutions. Lastly, we
discovered that it is important to think through potential problems before they strike. We learned that it
is necessary to collect things like clock repair books and the hours of Home Depot early on, so that when
events take a turn for the worse we are ready with damage control.
7 Acknowledgments
All members of WeKEA contributed their time to fabrication and editing and advising one anothers work.
However, WeKEA did divide up many of the tasks. Mr. Ben Bloom contributed the Wastes of Time
SolidWorks model and an impressive amount of fabrication expertise. Ms. Kathy King was the primary
author of this nal report and did the Working Model simulations. Ms. Holly Mead was the budget mistress,
Power Point artist, and web goddess. Mr. David Yoshida was responsible for the mathematical modelling
and a signicant amount of superb fabrication. Ms. Mead and Mr. Yoshida worked together to complete the
poster. This said, we would like to add that WeKEA has been a very close team. We tend to work together,
even on tasks that are supposedly designated to individuals.
WeKEA would like thank Dr. Zhenya Zastavker, Dr. Burt Tilley, and Mr. David Anderson for their many
valuable suggestions. We are also grateful to Dr. Brian Storey, Dr. Jon Stolk, Dr. Mark Somerville, Ms.
Christina Shea and especially Dr. Dan Frey for their helpful advice. Finally, WeKEA would like to thank
Dr. Jill Crisman for all of her tireless support.
8 Appendix A
8.1 Solving the Elliptical Integral for the Pendulum Period Calculation
We will begin where we left o in Section 2.1.
t =
1
2
a
2
+ b
2
12gd
+
d
g
_
0
d
_
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
_
(46)
Where t is the period of the pendulum. Using the following substitutions, the elliptical integral of the rst
kind can be solved.
13
z =
sin
_
2
_
sin
_
2
_ (47)
k = sin
_
2
_
(48)
dz =
cos
_
2
_
2 sin
_
2
_ d (49)
Substituting in z,k, and dz into the integral:
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12gd
+
d
g
_
1
0
dz
_
(1 z
2
) (1 k
2
z
2
)
(50)
Using the rst six terms of the Taylor series in order to approximate the period to four signicant gures:
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
1
0
dz
1 z
2
_
1 +
k
2
z
2
2
+
3k
4
z
4
8
+
5k
6
z
6
16
+
35k
8
z
8
128
+
63k
10
z
10
256
_
(51)
After distributing the integral, our equation assumes the form:
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
__
1
0
dz
1 z
2
+
k
2
2
_
1
0
z
2
dz
1 z
2
+
3k
4
8
_
1
0
z
4
dz
1 z
2
+
5k
6
16
_
1
0
z
6
dz
1 z
2
+
35k
8
128
_
1
0
z
8
dz
1 z
2
+
63k
10
256
_
1
0
z
10
dz
1 z
2
_
(52)
By a trigonometric substitution
sin = z (53)
cos d = dz (54)
sec =
1
1 z
2
(55)
= arcsin z (56)
the integral simplies to the following:
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
_
2
0
sec cos d +
k
2
2
_
2
0
sin
2
sec cos d +
3k
4
8
_
2
0
sin
4
sec cos d
+
5k
6
16
_
2
0
sin
6
sec cos d +
35k
8
128
_
2
0
sin
8
sec cos d +
63k
10
256
_
2
0
sin
10
sec cos d
_
(57)
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
_
2
0
d +
k
2
2
_
2
0
sin
2
d +
3k
4
8
_
2
0
sin
4
d +
5k
6
16
_
2
0
sin
6
d +
35k
8
128
_
2
0
sin
8
d
+
63k
10
256
_
2
0
sin
10
d
_
(58)
14
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
|
2
0
+
k
2
4
_
sin2
2
2
0
_
+
3k
4
8
_
_
sin
3
4
3 sin
8
_
cos +
3
8
2
0
_
+
5k
6
16
_
_
5
16
sin
_
8 sin
4
+ 10 sin
2
+ 15
_
cos
48
2
0
_
_
+
35k
8
128
_
_
35
128
sin
_
48 sin
6
+ 56 sin
4
+ 70 sin
2
+ 105
_
cos
384
2
0
_
_
+
63k
10
256
_
_
63
256
sin
_
128 sin
8
+ 144 sin
6
+ 168 sin
4
+ 210 sin
2
+ 315
_
cos
1280
2
0
_
_
_
_
(59)
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
arcsinz|
1
0
+
k
2
4
_
arcsinz z
_
1 z
2
1
0
_
+
3k
4
8
_
_
z
3
4
3z
8
_
_
1 z
2
+
3 arcsin z
8
1
0
_
+
5k
6
16
_
_
5 arcsin z
16
z
_
8z
4
+ 10z
2
+ 15
_
1 z
2
48
1
0
_
_
+
35k
8
128
_
_
35 arcsinz
128
z
_
48z
6
+ 56z
4
+ 70z
2
+ 105
_
1 z
2
384
1
0
_
_
+
63k
10
256
_
_
63 arcsin z
256
z
_
128z
8
+ 144z
6
+ 168z
4
+ 210z
2
+ 315
_
1 z
2
1280
1
0
_
_
_
_
(60)
t = 4
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
2
+
2
_
k
2
4
_
+
2
_
3k
4
8
__
3
8
_
+
2
_
5k
6
16
__
5
16
_
+
2
_
35k
8
128
__
35
128
_
+
2
_
63k
10
256
__
63
256
__
(61)
t = 2
a
2
+ b
2
12dg
+
d
g
_
1 +
k
2
4
+
3
2
k
4
8
2
+
5
2
k
6
16
2
+
35
2
k
8
128
2
+
63
2
k
10
256
2
_
(62)
If =
10
, then k= sin
_
20
_
Using the values in table 3:
t = 1.3022seconds (63)
15