The graph shows the simple harmonic motion of a mass m attached to a spring with spring constant k. What is the displacement at time $8\pi$? (a) 1 m
(b) 0 m
(c) Not defined
(d) −1 m

Video Transcript

This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. This graph is showing the motion of a mass m attached to a spring with some spring constant— it's simple harmonic motion. There's an equilibrium position at zero and the question is what is the displacement at time 8π? So here's time 8π—we assume this is the time axis— and we need to find out what is this displacement here? So we compare to the equilibrium position and it is 1 meter versus the equilibrium position— this displacement is 1 meter— it doesn't strictly tell us that this scale is in units of meters but that's the best answer that we can choose among these options so the answer is (a).