Period of a pendulum

[crazyasian]

Ok I feel really stupid not understanding such a simple concept. I am having trouble visualizing the period of a pendulum. For a bob on a string that acts like a spring, the period is the spring dropping and returning to the top. How about for a pendulum? Is it when it swings to the opposite side, or when it swings to the opposite side then back to where its started. I'm inclined to think its the 2nd one, but i'm not entirely sure.

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[PiBond]

Ok I feel really stupid not understanding such a simple concept. I am having trouble visualizing the period of a pendulum. For a bob on a string that acts like a spring, the period is the spring dropping and returning to the top. How about for a pendulum? Is it when it swings to the opposite side, or when it swings to the opposite side then back to where its started. I'm inclined to think its the 2nd one, but i'm not entirely sure.

the period of a pendulum is just how long it takes to complete one cycle. so if i take a pendulum and displace it by some angle and then let it go, it has completed a full period when it returns to the place that i let it go from. so yes, your second answer is correct.