Direction of acceleration in pendulum bob?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the acceleration of a pendulum bob at various positions during its swing. It establishes that the acceleration vector always points towards the center of the pendulum's arc due to the gravitational force and tension in the string. The components of gravitational force are analyzed, with the vertical component balanced by tension and the horizontal component contributing to the pendulum's acceleration. The consensus is that for position 1 the acceleration is represented as A, and for positions 2, 3, 4, and 5, it is represented as B, resulting in the sequence ABBBB.

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A simple pendulum consists of a mass M tied to a string and swings freely
starting from rest at the position on the left in the figure below.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/screenshot20110922at611.png/

Select the vectors which best represent the acceleration of mass M at the five
positions labeled 1,2,3,4,5 as the mass
swings from left to right. (If for position 1 the
acceleration is A, and for positons 2,3,4,5 it
is B, enter ABBBB.


Attempts
The mg component which is downward is split-ted into vertical and horizontal component. Tension is balanced by mgcos(theta) and mgsin(theta) produces acceleration in the bob of pendulum
 
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the acceleration "should" always point toward the center. This is due to the tension in the wire.

*still, I'd wait for another reply to confirm this.
 

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