Analyzing simple pendulum phenomena with a smartphone acceleration sensor

This paper describes a further experiment using the acceleration sensor of a smartphone. For a previous column on this topic, including the description of the operation and use of the acceleration sensor, see Ref. 1. In this contribution we focus on analyzing simple pendulum phenomena. A smartphone is used as a pendulum bob, and SPARKvue2 software is used in conjunction with an iPhone or an iPod touch, or the Accelogger3 app for an Android device. As described in Ref. 1, the values measured by the smartphone are subsequently exported to a spreadsheet application (e.g., MS Excel) for analysis.