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Periodic Motion
Motion around a stable point (energy trough)
If there is no work being done by any forces to remove energy, then the motion continues forever.
Terms
- Amplitude
- Maximum displacement from the equilibrium position
- Period
- Time needed to complete a full cycle (measured in seconds)
- Frequency
- Number of cycles that can be done in a given time period ()
- Angular Frequency
- (in radians/second)
Harmonic Oscillation Body
Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)
Restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from the equilibrium point:
Equation of simple harmonic motion
Linear acceleration
General Solution for form above
- A is the amplitude
- ω is the angular frequency: square root of "stuff" in front of the x(t) in Equation 1 =
- φ is the phase
A and φ can be obtained from initial conditions:
Given:
- (e.g. 3 m)
- (e.g. 2 m/s)
We can find:
Energy of SHM
For a Spring
Proof:
For a Simple Pendulum
If pendulum has length of
Only works for very small angles where ,
For a Physical Pendulum
An extended body that is fixed around an axis (not at center of gravity)
Distance from fixed axis to center of gravity is
Damped Oscillation
In SHM, we had . What happens if we add another force... proportional to velocity, per se.
Now our forces in the system:
General Solution:
Solve for ω by taking derivative and plugging into the first equation:
Determine Damping Case
Note if , then
3 Cases:
- — ω is real (underdamping)
- — ω = 0 (critical damping)
- — ω is imaginary (overdamping)
Underdamping
System oscillates less and less every time until it completely stops (sine curve tapers as increases)
Envelope is approximately e−t
Critical Damping
ω = 0, so system won't even oscillate; asymptotically approaches lowest point of equilibrium
Overdamping
Same as critical damping, but approaches 0 faster.