L1: Simple Harmonic Motion

OSCILLATIONS

Application in
 Acoustics
 Optics
 Mechanics
 Electrical Circuit
 Atomic Physics

Periodic Motion
 A motion which repeats itself over and over again after a regular interval of time.

Examples:
 The motion of moon about the earth
 the oscillation of a pendulum
 the motion of a mass suspended from a coil spring

Oscillatory or Vibratory Motion

 The oscillatory motion is, therefore, a to and fro (forward and backward) motion.
 The oscillatory motion is not only periodic but also bounded, i.e., the
displacement of the particle on either side of its mean position remains confined
within a well-defined limit.
 The displacement of a particle executing an oscillatory motion is usually
expressed in terms of sins or cosines or combination of both.

Examples:
 the oscillation of a pendulum
 the motion of a mass suspended from a coil spring

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 L1: Simple Harmonic Motion
Simple Harmonic Motion

Simple Harmonic Motion

 A type of periodic motion where

 The restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement and acts in
the direction opposite to that of displacement.
 The maximum displacement of the particle is the same on either side of
the mean position.
 Simple harmonic motion can be described as the projection of uniform circular
motion along a diameter of the circle.

 Differential Equation of Simple Harmonic Motion:

Considering an simple harmonic oscillating system, consisting of a particle subject to

a force

= − (1)

Where
is constant
is the displacement of the particle from its equilibrium position.

Again, according to Newton's laws of motion,

= (2)
Where
is the mass of the particle and
is acceleration.

Substituting − for and for , we can write for =

d2y
 ky  m
dt 2
d2y k
or , 2  y  0 (3)
dt m

Equation (3) is called the differential equation of motion of a body executing simple harmonic
motion, because the solution of eqn. (3) gives us the nature of variation of displacement with
time.

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 L1: Simple Harmonic Motion
 Solution of the differential equation of simple harmonic motion:
To obtain a general solution of the differential equation of simple harmonic motion, let us
dy
multiply both sides of eqn. (3) by 2 when we get
dt
dy d 2 y dy
or ,2 . 2  2 .w 2 y
dt dt dt
2
dy d y dy
or ,2 . 2  2 .w 2 y
dt dt dt

Integrating with respect time, we have

2
 dy  2 2
   w y  C (4)
dt
 
Where C is a constant of integration. C can be evaluated by applying boundary
conditions.

We know,
dy
 0 When = (amplitude)
dt

Substituting these values in eqn. (4)

0  w2 y 2  C
or , C  w 2 y 2
Substituting this value of C in eqn. (4), we have

2
 dy  2 2 2 2
   w y  w a (5)
dt
 
2
 dy 
or ,    w 2 (  y 2  a 2 )
 dt 
 dy 
or ,     w (a 2  y 2 )
 dt 
 dy  k
or ,     (a 2  y 2 ) (6)
 dt  m

Eqn. (6) can be rearranged as

dy
 wdt
(a  y 2 )
2

Integrating again with respect to time, we have

y
sin 1  wt  
a
or , y  a sin( wt   ) (7)

Equation (8) gives the displacement of the particle at an instant t and is the general solution
of the differential equation of simple harmonic motion.
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 L1: Simple Harmonic Motion
 Epoch of a particle executing simple harmonic motion
 a direct consequence of the fact that we start to count time, not from the instant
when the particle is in some standard position, like its mean position or one of its
extreme position, but from the instant when it is anywhere else in between.

The following cases will then arise:

(i) If we start counting time when the particle is in its mean position, i.e. , when
y = 0 at = 0, we have φ=0. Equ.(7), therefore, reduces to
=

(ii) If we start counting time when the particle is in its extreme positions, i.e. , when
= at = 0, we have φ=0. Equ.(7), therefore, reduces to
=

(iii) If, on the other hand, we start counting time from an instant t’, before the particle
has passed through its mean position,
We have = 0 at = ′,
Then we have
0 = sin ( + )
, ′+ =0
Whence = − ′ =-e, say. Therefore, the expression for simple harmonic motion
becomes
= sin ( − )

(iv) Similarly, If, on the other hand, we start counting time from an instant t’, after the
particle has passed through its mean position,
= sin ( + )

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