question_answer

For motion of a simple pendulum to be simple harmonic :

A)  amplitude of motion will be very small

B)  amplitude of motion will be very large

C)  independent of amplitude of motion

D)  none of the above

Correct Answer: A

Solution :

                A simple pendulum is one which can be considered to be a point mass suspended from a string or rod of negligible mass. It is a resonant system with a single resonant frequency. For small amplitudes, the period of such as pendulum can be approxi-mated by                 \[T=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{l}{g}}\] This expression is reasonably accurate for angles of a few degrees, but the treatment of the large amplitude problem is much more complex.