Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017-resit/11/d/solution

Take the positive coordinate from toward . The centre of mass of the remaining material has coordinate
Thus . If is the small angular displacement from the stable hanging orientation, gravity gives torque about the suspension point. The physical pendulum equation is
Using the small-angle approximation gives simple harmonic motion with
Both the reduced mass and displaced centre of mass matter; changing only the moment of inertia would give an incorrect frequency.

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