In what direction do you think that the kids would accelerate during each swing?

Starting at the furthest position from the equilibrium position, the kids would speed up to the centre--they are accelerating towards the centre point.

Once past the middle, the kids start to slow down until you stop at the other side of the equilibrium position. But deceleration is the same as negative acceleration, so deceleration away from B is the same as accelerating towards B. So you're still accelerating towards centre.

From point C you accelerate back towards the centre again. From B to A you decelerate to a stop but again you're really accelerating towards the centre.

Can you see throughout the motion that the acceleration is directed towards the centre point.

	Created by Haneen Al-Baghdadi over 10 years ago

A-Level Physics (Unit 5) Slide Set on Oscillation, created by Haneen Al-Baghdadi on 06/04/2016.