The frequency of a swinging pendulum is the number of complete oscillations the pendulum makes in a second. An oscillation is one complete back-and-forth motion of the pendulum. The time taken to complete one oscillation is known as the period, which is the reciprocal of frequency. The period of a pendulum depends on the length of the pendulum and the acceleration due to gravity. The longer the pendulum, the slower it swings and the greater the period. Similarly, the greater the acceleration due to gravity, the faster the pendulum swings and the smaller the period. The frequency of a pendulum is an important characteristic that can be used to determine the length of a pendulum or the acceleration due to gravity.