Exploring the Mechanics of Poe's Pit and the Pendulum

The video follows a team as they attempt to build a pendulum inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. They explore historical contexts, including the Spanish Inquisition and Galileo's discoveries, to inform their design. The team constructs a working model, tests it, and assembles a full-scale version. They also delve into the psychological impact of the pendulum, conducting a mock execution to simulate its effects.

What year was 'The Pit and the Pendulum' first published?

• 1616

• 1820

• 1642

• 1842

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Who was Antonio Llorente?

• The inventor of the pendulum

• A friar who documented an execution by pendulum

• A character in Poe's story

• A victim of the pendulum

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What inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write 'The Pit and the Pendulum'?

• A visit to Spain

• Historical records and psychological terror

• Galileo's experiments

• A dream

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What was Galileo's contribution to the understanding of pendulums?

• He was executed by a pendulum

• He invented the pendulum clock

• He discovered their properties through experiments

• He wrote 'The Pit and the Pendulum'

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How did the team ensure the pendulum blade would drop properly?

• By sharpening the blade frequently

• By using a lightweight blade

• By using a motor

• By balancing the counterweights

Why was Galileo considered a heretic?

• For inventing the pendulum clock

• For his beliefs about the universe

• For writing horror stories

• For opposing the Spanish Inquisition

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What was the primary goal in building a small mock-up of the pendulum?

• To use it as a decoration

• To ensure the concept works in reality

• To test the blade's sharpness

• To scare visitors

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What psychological effect did the pendulum's sound have?

• It was soothing

• It was ignored by the victim

• It induced madness

• It was inaudible

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What was the significance of the pendulum's incremental drop?

• It was a technical error

• It increased psychological terror

• It allowed for escape

• It made the execution quicker

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What was the team's final step in testing the pendulum?

• Destroying the pendulum

• Simulating an execution with a dummy

• Publishing their findings

• Sharpening the blade

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