A conical pendulum is also similar to a simple plane pendulum, except that the pendulum is constrained to move along the surface of a cone, so that the mass \(m\) moves in a horizontal circle of radiu...A conical pendulum is also similar to a simple plane pendulum, except that the pendulum is constrained to move along the surface of a cone, so that the mass \(m\) moves in a horizontal circle of radius \(r\), maintaining a constant angle \(\theta\) from the vertical. A general approach to solving problems involving circular motion like this is to identify the force responsible for keeping the mass moving in a circle, then set that equal to the centripetal force \(m v^{2} / r\).
