9348

Updated: May 14, 2025

As the time in which a pendulum vibrates is to the time in which a heavy body falls through half the length of the pendulum, as the circumference of a circle is to its diameter, and as the height through which a body falls is as the square of the time of falling, it is clear that the height through which a body will fall, during the vibration of a pendulum, is to half the length of the pendulum as the square of the circumference of a circle is to the square of its diameter; namely, as 9.8696 is to 1, or it is to the whole length of the pendulum as the half of this, namely, 4.9348 is to 1; and 4.9348 times 39.1393 in. is 16-1/12 ft. very nearly, which is the space through which a body falls by gravity in a second.

C.E. John Bourne - A Catechism of the Steam Engine