UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PANGASINAN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS
Prepared by Engr. Larissa G. Saculles

6. OSCILLATION
PERIODIC MOTION
Periodic motion or oscillation is a motion that repeats itself in a definite cycle. It occurs whenever a body has
a stable equilibrium position and a restoring force that acts when it is displaced from equilibrium.
Definition of Terms:
1. Equilibrium Position – the position of the body when the forces acting on it have zero resultant; the position
of the body when it is at rest.
2. Restoring Force (F) – the net force, acting on a body, directed back toward the equilibrium position. It tends
to return the system in to equilibrium. SI Unit: N
3. Displacement (x) – the distance of the body from the equilibrium position at any time. SI Unit: m
4. Amplitude (A) – is the maximum magnitude of displacement from equilibrium – that is, the maximum value
of |𝑥| 𝑜𝑟 𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑥 . SI Unit: m
5. Cycle – or a complete vibration, is one complete round trip
6. Period (T) – the time for one cycle. It is always positive. SI Unit: s, but sometimes expressed as “s/cycle”
7. Frequency (f) – is the number of cycles in a unit of time. It is always positive. SI Unit: hertz (Hz)
8. Angular frequency (𝝎) – is 2𝜋 time the frequency: 𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑓
Relationships between the frequency and period:
𝟏 𝟏
𝒇= 𝑻=
𝑻 𝒇
Also,
𝟐𝝅
𝝎 = 𝟐𝝅𝒇 =
𝑻

SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION (SHM)

SHM happens when the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from equilibrium.
Harmonic oscillator – a body that undergoes simple harmonic motion

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 6. OSCILLATION
Using Hooke’s Law:
𝑭𝒙 = −𝒌𝒙 (𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔)
By Newton’s 2nd Law:
𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
Equate Hooke’s Law and Newton’s 2 nd Law yields:
𝑘
𝑎=− 𝑥 (𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝐻𝑀)
𝑚
Where k = force constant of spring, N/m
m = mass of body, kg
x = displacement, m
Additional equation for SHM

𝑎 = −𝜔2 𝑥

𝑘 𝒌
= 𝜔2 ; 𝝎=√
𝑚 𝒎

Since 𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑓:

𝟏 𝒌 𝒎
𝒇= √ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑻 = 𝟐𝝅√
𝟐𝝅 𝒎 𝒌

Energy in SHM

Using Conservation of Energy: Total Mechanical Energy = Kinetic Energy + Potential Energy
1 1
Kinetic Energy of the body is K = 2 𝑚𝑣 2 and the Potential Energy of the spring is U=2 𝑘𝑥 2 so, the Total Mechanical
Energy of the spring is:
𝐸 =𝐾+𝑈
𝟏 𝟏
𝑬 = 𝒎𝒗𝟐 + 𝒌𝒙𝟐 = 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕
𝟐 𝟐

When the spring reaches the maximum displacement, A, or 𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑥 , 𝑣 = 0, then,

K=0 then,

1
2 1
𝐸 = 𝐾 + 𝑈 = 𝑈 = 2 𝑘𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 𝑘𝐴2 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 so,

1 1 1
𝑚𝑣 2 + 𝑘𝑥 2 = 𝑘𝐴2 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠,
2 2 2

𝒎𝒗𝟐 + 𝒌𝒙𝟐 = 𝒌𝑨𝟐

𝒌
So, 𝒗 = √ (𝑨𝟐 − 𝒙𝟐 ) (𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦)
𝒎

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 6. OSCILLATION
THE SIMPLE PENDULUM
Simple Pendulum is an idealized model consisting of a point mass
suspended by a massless, unstretchable string.

𝑥 Note: the path of the point mass (sometimes called a pendulum bob) is
𝜃= (𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠) not a straight line but the arc of a circle with radius 𝐿 equal to the length
𝐿
of the string.
Laws of the Simple Pendulum
a. The amplitude does not affect the period of a simple pendulum.
b. The angle of swing does not affect the period.
c. The mass of the body does not affect the period.
x
d. The period is directly proportional to the square root of its length.
e. The period is inversely proportional to the square root of the
acceleration.
Equations for Simple Pendulum

𝒎𝒈
Force constant for simple pendulum: 𝒌=
𝑳
Then,
𝐹𝜃 = −𝑚𝑔 sin 𝜃 (𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑚)

If the angle 𝜃 is small, sin 𝜃 is very nearly equal to 𝜃 in radians

𝑥
𝐹𝜃 = −𝑚𝑔𝜃 = −𝑚𝑔
𝐿

Where g = acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/s2

L = length of the massless string

We have the equation for angular velocity:

𝑘 𝑚𝑔
𝜔=√ 𝑖𝑓 𝑘 =
𝑚 𝐿
𝒎𝒈 𝒈
𝝎=√ = √ (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑚, 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒)
𝒎(𝑳) 𝑳
For frequency and period of a simple pendulum:

𝟏 𝒈 𝑳
𝒇= √ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑻 = 𝟐𝝅√
𝟐𝝅 𝑳 𝒈

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 6. OSCILLATION
Practices Exercises

1. An ultrasonic transducer used for medical diagnosis oscillates at 6.7 MHz = 6.7x10 6 Hz. How long does each
oscillation take, and what is the angular frequency?
2. A spring is mounted horizontally, with its left end fixed. A spring balance attached to the free end and pulled
toward the right indicates that the stretching force is proportional to the displacement, and a force of 6.0 N causes
a displacement of 0.030 m. We replace the spring balance with a 0.50 kg glider, pull it 0.20 m to the right along
a frictionless air track, and release it from rest. (a) Find the force constant k of the spring. (b) Find the angular
frequency 𝜔, frequency f, and period T of the resulting oscillation.
3. Find the period and frequency of a simple pendulum 1.0 m long at a location where g = 9.81 m/s s.
4. This procedure has actually been used to “weigh” astronauts in space. A 42.5-kg chair is attached to a spring
and allowed to oscillate. When it is empty, the chair takes 1.30 s to make one complete vibration. But with an
astronaut sitting in it, with her feet off the floor, the chair takes 2.54 s for one cycle. What is the mass of the
astronaut?
5. A small block is attached to an ideal spring and is moving in SHM on a horizontal, frictionless surface. The
amplitude of the motion is 0.120 m. The maximum speed of the block is 3.90 m/s. What is the maximum
magnitude of the acceleration of the block?
6. A 326-g object is attached to a spring and executes simple harmonic motion with a period of 0.250 s. If the
total energy of the system is 5.83 J, find (a) the maximum speed of the object, (b) the force constant of the spring,
and (c) the amplitude of the motion.
7. You pull a simple pendulum 0.240 m long to the side through an angle of 3.50° and release it. (a) How much
time does it take the pendulum bob to reach its highest speed? (b) How much time does it take if the pendulum
is released at ang angle of 1.75° instead of 3.50°?
8. A certain simple pendulum has a period on the earth of 1.60 s. What is the its period on the surface of Mars,
where g = 3.71 m/s2?
9. After landing on an unfamiliar planet, a space explorer constructs a simple pendulum of length 50.0 cm. She
finds that the pendulum makes 100 complete swings in 136 s. What is the value of g on this planet?

References
o Young, H. et. Al (2012) Sears and Zemanky’s University Physics with Modern Physics 13th Edition, Pearson
Education Inc.
o Singer, F. (1975) Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics, Third Edition, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.
o The Physics Classroom (2023) Mechanics: Simple Harmonic Motion
< https://www.physicsclassroom.com/calcpad/Simple-Harmonic-Motion>
o University of California Santa Cruz. Simple Pendulum
< https://ucscphysicsdemo.sites.ucsc.edu/physics-5b6b-demos/oscillations-and-waves/pendulum/>

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