If you imagine a spring with a mass hanging from it bouncing up and down or a simple pendulum swinging back and forth, you are imagining simple harmonic motion. Simple harmonic motion is the special case of periodic motion where the motion is a direct result of a restoring force. The restoring force is directly proportional to the distance the object is away from its point of equilibrium, or its "resting" point.
So far, you've been introduced to the concepts of simple harmonic motion, like where in the motion is the maximum force and acceleration and maximum velocity. In this lesson, we will concentrate on how you measure simple harmonic motion.
Question
Why is the pendulum such a good time keeper?
The pendulum is a great time keeper because each back and forth swing happens in a specific amount of time. For example, a grandfather clock pendulum may swing once every two seconds. Thus, allowing for an accurate time keeping device. As you will learn later, the time for one back and forth swing is related to the pendulum's length. The time for one back and forth swing is called the period.
