Question

A pendulum that moves through its equilibrium position once every 1.000 s is sometimes called a “seconds pendulum.” what is the period of any seconds pendulum? 1. 4.000 s 2. 2.000 s 3. none of these 4. 1.000 s 5. 0.500 s 6. 0.250 s

Answer 1

The equilibrium position for a pendulum is straight down. If it moves through that position every second then its period is actually 2 seconds. This is because the period is how long it takes to go from one extreme and back again. It will pass through the equilibrium point twice when doing this. Once on the way down and again on the way back.