A pendulum takes 10 seconds to swing through 2 complete cycles.
a. How long does it take to complete one cycle?
b. What is its period?
c. What is its frequency?
Answer (2)
a) For 2 complete cycles, time taken is 10 s.
Thus, for 1 complete cycle, the pendulum would take = 10 s÷ 2 = 5 s
b) **The time period of a pendulum can be defined as time to complete 1 cycle/oscillation. **This is calculated in part a. Thus, time period of the pendulum is 5 s.
c) The frequency of a pendulum can be define number of cycles/oscillations in 1 s. It takes 5 s to complete 1 cycle.
In 1 s, number of cycles = (1 ÷ 5) s⁻¹ = 0.2 Hz.
The pendulum takes 5 seconds to complete one cycle, which is also its period. The frequency of the pendulum is 0.2 Hz. This means the pendulum completes 0.2 cycles every second.
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