CHAPTER I

PERIODIC MOTION
PERIODIC MOTIONS OR OSCILLATIONS are back-and-forth movement between
two extremes or limits.
examples: vibration of a quartz crystal in a watch, swinging pendulum, sound vibrations
A body that undergoes periodic motion always has a stable equilibrium position. When
it is moved away from this position and released, a force or torque (called restoring
force) comes into play to pull it back toward equilibrium. But by the time it gets there,
it has picked up some kinetic energy, so it overshoots, stopping somewhere on the other
side, and is again pulled back toward equilibrium.
BASIC CONCEPTS
(1)Displacement, x, is the distance of the oscillating body from equilibrium and is
also the change in length of the spring.
(2)Amplitude, A, is the magnitude of the maximum displacement away from zero.
(3)Period, T, is the time required for one complete cycle.
(4)Frequency, f, is the number of complete cycles per second.
1
f=
(1)
T
The unit for f is cycles/sec. This is called hertz in honor of Heinrich Hertz.
(5)
Angular frequency, , is the number of radians that the angle t goes
through per second. The angular frequency is related to the frequency by
=2 f
(2)
The unit for is rad/s.
It follows that the period is related to the angular frequency by
2
T=

(3)

SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION (SHM)

When the restoring force, F is directly proportional to the displacement x from
equilibrium, the oscillation is called simple harmonic motion, abbreviated SHM.
The best example for this one is an ideal spring that follows Hookes law. The constant
of proportionality between F and x is the force constant k.
Acceleration, Velocity