The restorative force of a pendulum is the part of gravity that acts perpendicular to the pendulum arm: F = -mgsinθ. For small angles, this force is directly proportional to displacement because sinθ. To verify this, convert 20° to radians, then compute the sine of the angle. (5 pts)
sinθ =
%Diff =
By the small angle approximation, then, the pendulum behaves as a simple harmonic oscillator F = -mgθ, where θ = 20° (1 = 0.33 rad).