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Week 9: Oscillations

Oscillation Summary

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• Springs obey Hooke’s Law: F = −k~x (where k is called the spring constant. A perfect spring (with no damping or drag force) produces perfect harmonic oscillation, so this will be our archetype.

• A pendulum (as we shall see) has a restoring force or torque proportional to displacement for small displacements but is much too complicated to treat in this course for large displacements. It is a simple example of a problem that oscillates harmonically for small displacements but not harmonically for large ones.

• An oscillator can be damped by dissipative forces such as friction and viscous drag. A damped oscillator can have exhibit a variety of behaviors depending on the relative strength and form of the damping force, but for one special form it can be easily described.

• An oscillator can be driven by e.g. an external harmonic driving force that may or may not be at the same frequency (in resonance with the natural frequency of the oscillator.

• The equation of motion for any (undamped) harmonic oscillator is the same, although it may have di erent dynamical variables. For example, for a spring it is:

d2x

 

k

d2x

+ ω2x = 0

 

 

+

 

x =

 

 

(767)

dt2

 

dt2

 

m

 

 

where for a simple pendulum (for small oscillations) it is:

d2θ

 

g

d2θ

+ ω2

 

 

 

+

 

x =

 

θ = 0

(768)

dt2

 

dt2

 

ℓ

 

 

 

(In this latter case ω is the angular frequency of the oscillator, not the angular velocity of the mass dθ/dt.)

• The general solution to the equation of motion is:

x(t) = A cos(ωt + φ)

(769)

p

where ω = k/m and the amplitude A (units: length) and phase φ (units: dimensionless/radians) are the constants of integration (set from e.g. the initial conditions). Note that we alter the variable to fit the specific problem – for a pendulum it would be:

θ(t) = Θ cos(ωt + φ)

(770)

p

with ω = g/ℓ, where the angular amplitude Θ now has units of radians.

• The velocity of the mass attached to an oscillator is found from:

v(t) =

dx

= −Aω sin(ωt + φ) = −V sin(ωt + φ)

(771)

dt

(with V = vmax = Aω).

389