So, how can we analyze the motion of a simple pendulum? Relying on what we know from kinematics alone would be difficult. The Motion of Simple Pendulumsįor many different topics, it’s often useful to identify a simplified version of a more complex form of motion in order to both understand the system and solve problems. Of course, this is idealized - massless objects cannot exist in real life, but many examples of pendulums can be modeled as simple pendulums to a sufficient degree of accuracy. In other words, a simple pendulum is composed of a mass concentrated on the end of an inelastic and massless string.

The line connecting the point mass to the axis of rotation cannot stretch and has no mass. A simple pendulum is an ideal pendulum where we consider all the mass to be at a point on the end.