Pendulum Question

Question

Is the period of oscillation for a pendulum independent to its amplitude?

Answer 1

No, but the amplitude can be ignored if the initial displacement angle is small enough. For small angles (less than 20 degrees), the formula for the period is:

T = 2π √ (L/g)

Where L is the length of the pendulum, and g is the gravitational constant. Note that amplitude doesn't appear in this equation.

For larger initial displacements, the relationship between amplitude and period is expressed via a differential equation.