Defined as periodic motion that produces a sinusoidal position vs. time graph.
Or another textbook definition:
A object executing simple harmonic motion is subject to a linear restoring force that tends to return the object to its equilibrium position and is linearly proportional to the object’s displacement from its equilibrium position.
AP Equation:
Also:
Simple harmonic motion is typified by the motion of a mass on a spring when it is subject to the linear elastic restoring force given by Hooke's Law.
Possibe Factors:
Possibe Factors:
The figures below show systems containing a block resting on a frictionless surface and attached to the end of a spring. The springs are stretched to the right by a distance given in each figure and then released from rest. The blocks oscillate back and forth. The mass and force constant are given for each system.
Rank the systems on the basis of the frequency of vibratory motion.
Test Yourself: A frictionless cart of mass
Compared to Experiment A, in Experiment B the cart has:
Test Yourself: A frictionless cart of mass
Compared to Experiment A, in Experiment C the cart has:
Suppose that for a fourth experiment (Experiment D), the mass used in Experiment A was doubled and the spring was replaced with a spring with double the spring constant. The period in Experiment D would be:
Pendulums of bowling balls have slightly different quantities that allow them to have different periods Examples: A rocking chair, a swing, the pendulum of a grandfather clock, the strings on a guitar, the wings of a mosquito all oscillate. At the atomic level, atoms oscillate inside solids. At the cosmic level, the entire universe may oscillate in an ever-repeating cycle of expansion and contraction.
$\omega$ is the angular speed, but in terms of SHM we refer to it as the angular frequency This is NOT the same as frequency -- can think of it as the radian equivalent -- cycles to radians, remember your circle (1 circle is 2 pi radians)
Damping will just decrease the the amplitude, but not change the Period