A student does an experiment with a pendulum. in the first trial, she displaces the pendulum 5 cm. In the second trial, she disp
laces the same pendulum a distance of 10 cm. In what ways would the graphs that represent these simple harmonic motion graphs be different? In what ways would they be the same?
Well, there are different ways you can represent the motion of the pendulum on a graph. For example, the graph could show the pendulum's displacement, total distance, position, speed, velocity, or acceleration against time. Your question doesn't specify which quantity the graphs show, so it's pretty tough to describe their similarities and differences, since these could be different depending on the quantity being graphed.
I have decided to make it simple, and assume that the graph shows the distance away from the center against time, with positive and negative values to represent whether its position is to the left or right of the center. And now I shall proceed to answer the question that I just invented.
In both cases, the graph would be a "sine" wave. That is, it would be the graph of the equation
Y = A · sin(B · time) .
' A ' is the amplitude of the wave.
' B ' is some number that depends on the frequency of the swing . . . how often the pendulum completes one full swing.
The two graphs would have different amplitudes, so the number 'A' would be different. It would be 5 for the first graph and 10 on the 2nd one.
But the number 'B' would be the same for both graphs, because when she pulled it farther and let it go, it would make bigger swings, but they would not happen any faster or slower than the small swings.
In the space of, say one minute, the pendulum would make the same number of swings both times. That number would only depend on the length of the string, but not on how far you pull it sideways before you let it go.
When balanced forces act on an object at rest, the object will not move. If you push against a wall, the wall pushes back with an equal but opposite force. Neither you nor the wall will move. Forces that cause a change in the motion of an object are unbalanced forces.