In this experiment, we use a conical pendulum to familiarize us with dynamic equilibrium in rotational motion and the apparatus used here eventually becomes a really nice demonstration of the interplay of geometry, vectors, forces, and equilibrium.
We will identify the free body diagram of a horizontally whirling object and see how it lifts as its speed goes up. The lift apparently dees the downward pull of gravity but we will see how a delicate balance of forces allows the object to swirl at a certain lift angle. As the speed of the object changes, the forces adapt and preserve the delicate balance.
Thus, this experiment recreates the mental problem in Paul Nahin’s beautiful book, “In Praise of Simple Physics” and the apparatus created for this experiment is one of the author’s methods to determine the value of g.