Chapter 1: Oscillations

Chapter 1

Oscillations
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Books Needed
1. Physics for Engineers Vol 1- Giasuddin Ahmad

2. Waves and Oscillations- N Subrahmanyam, Brijlal

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)
1) Define periodic motion
2) SHM

SHM = periodic vibration about an equilibrium

point
Amplitude = max displacement

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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)

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✓ Max force occurs at amplitude

✓ Zero force occurs at equilibrium

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✓ Max velocity occurs at equilibrium

✓ Zero velocity at max amplitude

position

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Define the SHM and write the Condition of
SHM
A harmonic/periodic motion of constant amplitude
in which the acceleration is proportional and
oppositely directed to the displacement of the
body from the mean/equilibrium position. So the
conditions of SHM are:

1. Motion is periodic
2. Acceleration is proportional to the displacement
3. Acceleration is opposite to the displacement
4. Maximum displacement on both sides of the equilibrium
position must be equal to each to other 7
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)

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Differential Equation of Simple Harmonic Motion
(SHM)

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This is the differential equation of a particle

showing simple harmonic motion.
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Solution of the Differential Equation

of SHM

Class Work

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Velocity and Maximum Velocity of SHM

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Acceleration and Maximum Acceleration of SHM
Class Work

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Time Period of SHM

Class Work

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Epoch of a Particle Executing SHM

Home Work

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Energy of a particle executing SHM

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Total Energy as a Function of Amplitude

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Total Energy as a Function of Amplitude

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Graphical Representation of the Energy of a
Particle Executing SHM

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Velocity from Total Energy of a Particle
Executing SHM
The equation for the energy associated with SHM can be
solved to find the magnitude of the velocity of the particle:

Hence, the velocity of the particle at any position:

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Average Values of the KE and PE of a

Particle Executing SHM

Show the details calculations

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SHM of a loaded spring

Home Work

Page 37 (N Subrahmanyam)
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Problems

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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 1

displacement

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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 2

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 3
A body of mass 0.5 kg is suspended from a
spring of negligible mass and it stretches the
spring by 0.07 m. For a displacement of 0.03 m
it has a downward velocity of 0.4 m/s.
Compute
(i)The time period
(ii)The frequency
(iii)The amplitude of vibration of the spring
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 4
A particle is vibrating with SHM of amplitude
15 cm, and frequency 4 Hz. Calculate
(a)The maximum values of the acceleration
and velocity
(b)The acceleration and velocity when the
displacement is 9 cm.

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 5

For a particle is vibrating simple harmonically

the displacement is 8 cm at the instant
velocity of 6 cm/s and the displacement is 6
cm at the instant velocity of 8 cm/s. Calculate
the amplitude, frequency and time period of
vibration.

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem 6

A particle execute simple harmonic motion

about the point x = 0. At t= 0, it has displaced
y = 0.37 cm, and zero velocity. If the
frequency of motion is 0.25/s. Calculate the
period, amplitude, the maximum speed and
the maximum acceleration.

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Linearity & Superposition

Principle

Class Work
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Lissajou’s Figures
Basic Theory for Lissajous Figures

Combination of two SH vibrations of same

frequency but different amplitude and phase
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Lissajou’s Figures

1. Combination of two SH vibrations at Right Angles to

each other having of same frequency but different
amplitude and phase.

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Lissajou’s Figures

2. Combination of two SH vibrations at

Right Angles to each other having a time
period in the ratio of 1:2.
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Uses of Lissajou’s Figures

1. Laptop and PC screen savers

2. Science fiction movies
3. TV shows
4. Laser shows
5. To design new logos
6. Space stations and satellites
7. To detect the phase shift and time periods of
signals 41
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Questions
1. Define simple harmonic motion with its
characteristics and give 2 examples.
2. Establish the differential equation of SHM and solve
it to obtain an expression for the displacement of a
particle executing SHM.
3. Establish the differential equation of SHM and find
its time period.
4. Explain simple harmonic motion. Obtain expressions
for the frequency, amplitude, velocity, and
acceleration of a body executing SHM.
5. Calculate the mechanical energy of a particle
executing SHM, and show that it remains conserved.
Also show that its energy, on average, half kinetic
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and half potential.
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Questions

6. Calculate the average kinetic and total energy of a

particle executing SHM. Show that the principle of
conservation of energy is obeyed by a harmonic
oscillator.
7. Show that the motion of a simple pendulum is
harmonic. Obtain an expression for the frequency of
oscillations of the simple pendulum.

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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problems (Home Work)

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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Problem

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Chapter 1: Oscillations

Free Vibrations

Damped Vibrations

Forced Vibrations 46
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Free/Undamped Vibrations
If an object such as the bob of a simple
pendulum is displaced from its mean position,
and the released, it will show simple harmonic
motion. If there is no loss of energy due to
friction or otherwise, the pendulum will go on
oscillating with the same time period and
amplitude for any length of time without any
damping or decay of oscillations. Such types of
motions are referred as the undamped or free
vibrations. 47
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Free/Undamped Vibrations
The displacement—time graph for a body
executing free vibrations is given below:

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Free/Undamped Vibrations
The free vibrations of a body actually
occur only in vacuum because the
presence of a medium offers some
resistance due to which the amplitude of
vibration does not remain constant and
decreases continuously. Thus, we define
free vibrations as the periodic vibrations
of a body of constant amplitude in the
absence of any external force on it. 49
 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Damped Vibrations
Generally, a simple harmonic oscillator vibrates in a
resisting medium such as air and energy is gradually
dissipated in each vibration in overcoming the opposing
frictional/resistive forces. As a result, the amplitude of
vibration gradually goes on decreasing with time. In the
absence of any kind of resistive or damping forces, the
oscillations will continue indefinitely without the change
of amplitude and time period however, in the presence
of damping the amplitude of vibrations decreases
continuously with time and finally the oscillations die
out. These kinds of vibrations are known as the damped
vibrations. 50
Chapter 1: Oscillations
Damped Vibrations

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Damped Vibrations
An object showing simple harmonic motions in
a damping medium will be simultaneously
subjected to the following opposing forces:

1. The restoring force acting on the body which

proportional to the displacement of the body
and directed opposite to the direction of
displacement. Let this force be -ay where a is
a force constant)
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

2. The resistive or damping force which is

proportional to the velocity of the object. Let
this damping force be -bv, where b is the
damping constant or damping coefficient, and v
is the velocity of the object.

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Chapter 1: Oscillations

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Equation (1) is a second order linear
homogeneous differential equation.
Let us consider that Eq. (1) has a
solution in the form of:

Where A and k are two arbitrary

constants.
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Differentiating the trial solution twice
with respect to t, and substituting
these into Eq. (1), we get

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………... (2)

This is a quadratic equation and has a

solution of

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Thus, y will be the following values that
will satisfy Eq. (1)

Since Eq. (1) is linear, the sum of the two

values of y will be another solution of Eq. (1):

… (3)
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations

Home Work
Do the middle steps………………….find
the values of A1, and A2

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The final solution of Eq. (1) will be

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Types of Damping
1. Underdamping (Slight/light damping)
2. Critical damping
3. Overdamping (Heavy/strong damping)

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Power Dissipation in a Damped
Harmonic Oscillator

Home Work
(p. 91, GU Ahmad)
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Forced Vibrations
Whenever a particle oscillates in a medium it
gets damped i.e., its amplitude falls
exponentially with time to zero due to
dissipation of energy. If an external periodic
force is applied to maintain the motion against
the damping force, initially the amplitude of
oscillation will increase, then decreases with
time, becomes minimum and again increases.
Finally the particle will start to oscillate with
frequency of the applied force at a constant
amplitude as long as the force remains active.
Such vibrations of the body are called the
forced vibrations. 65
Chapter 1: Oscillations

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Home Work
Solve this equation (1) to obtain the
displacement of the particle having a forced
oscillation. The solution of Eq. (1) will be

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Eq. (1) is an inhomogeneous differential
equation, and solution we have got is not a
complete one. We need to add the
complementary function (which is the solution
of the homogeneous part of Eq. (1)) to it. One
such solution we know is,

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Thus, the complete solution of Eq. (1) will be

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Resonance in Forced Vibrations

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Q-factor in Forced Vibrations

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Sharpness of Resonance
in Forced Vibrations

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
For the previous studies see the

Book
Physics for Engineers Part. 1 (Gias Uddin Ahmad)

Chapter III
Pages 81-89, 91-94, 107-114
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Chapter 1: Oscillations
Home Work: Sample Questions
(from More Study)

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Home Work: Sample Questions
4. What are free, damped, and forced vibrations? A
particle showing damped harmonic motion is subjected to
an external periodic force. Establish the differential
equation of motion of the particle, explain each terms and
solve it to obtain an expression for the displacement of the
oscillator.
5. Explain the phenomena of quality factor and sharpness
of resonance of forced harmonic oscillator and clearly
explain the factors on which the sharpness of resonance
depends.
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Waves
Waves are always around us and are present
in a variety of forms.
Water waves are in the visible form; however,
there are sound waves, radio waves etc which
aren’t visible but they exist!

Apart from sound waves, there are strong

waves, visible light waves, microwaves,
stadium waves, earthquake waves, sine
waves, cosine waves etc which we encounter
in our daily lives.
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Waves

A wave is a movement caused in a

medium from one point to another when
an object comes in contact with it.

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Waves
There are three types of waves:
1. Mechanical waves (Longitudinal waves and transverse
waves)
The different examples of mechanical waves are the
vibration of a string, the surface wave generated on the
surface of a liquid and solid, tsunami waves,
ultrasounds, oscillations in spring, and waves in slink
etc.

2. Electromagnetic waves (Examples: Light waves,

Radio waves, thermal radiation, etc.)

3. Matter waves (Also known as de Broglie waves)

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Superposition Principle of Waves
The superposition principle states that when two waves pass
through the same point, the resultant displacement is the sum
of the individual displacements of the two waves.
In the figure below, (a) exhibits destructive interference and (b)
exhibits constructive interference, and (c) they add partially
destructively.

(a) (b) (c)

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Analytic Treatment of Superposition Principle of Waves

Please see a Text Book

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Stationary Waves
Stationary waves are also known as the standing
waves. The conditions for standing waves are:
1. two waves travelling in opposite
directions along the same path and in the
same plane
2. the waves have the same speed
3. the waves have the same frequency
4. the waves have the same approximate
amplitude 82
 Chapter 1: Oscillations

As a result of superposition (waves

adding/subtracting), a resultant wave is
produced. Depending on the phase
difference between the waves, this
resultant wave appears to move slowly to
the right or to the left or disappear
completely. It is only when the phase
difference is exactly zero, that is when the
two waves are exactly out of phase, that
'stationary waves' occur.
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Stationary Waves

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Stationary Waves

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1. Two waves having the same amplitudes
approach each other from opposite directions.

2. The two waves are 180o out of phase with

each other and therefore cancel out (black
horizontal line).

3. The phase difference between the two waves

narrows. The resultant grows but is not in
phase with either of the two waves.
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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
4. The phase difference between the two waves is
narrower still. The resultant is larger but is still out
of phase with the two waves.

5. The phase difference between the two waves is

now zero. The resultant has its maximum value and
is in phase with the two waves.
These 'in phase' waves produce an amplitude that
is the sum of the individual amplitudes, the region
being called an antinode.
Between two antinodes is a region where the
superposition is zero. This is called a node. 87
Chapter 1: Oscillations
Stationary Waves

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 Chapter 1: Oscillations
Properties of Stationary Waves
1. separation of adjacent nodes is half a
wavelength (λ/2)
2. separation of adjacent antinodes is also λ/2
3. hence separation of adjacent nodes and
antinodes is λ/4
4. the maximum amplitude is 2a (twice that of
a single wave)
5. a standing wave does not transfer energy(its
two components however, do transfer
energy in their respective directions)
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Theory of Stationary Waves
Consider two waves:

When the two waves are superposed, the resultant

displacement yT is given by:

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Therefore,

Let,

Then yT can be rewritten in a form similar to that of a

simple sine wave

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The term A takes on the significance of being
the vertical displacement of the standing wave.

From the expression for A it can be seen that the

magnitude of A depends on the lateral position x.

Consider the magnitude of A at different horizontal

displacements (x) along the standing wave.

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Phase or Wave Velocity

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Expression of phase velocity

The phase velocity is the velocity at

which the phase of any one frequency
component of the wave propagates. One
could pick one particular phase of the
wave (for example the crest) and it would
appear to travel at the phase velocity.
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Group Velocity

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The superposition of two sine waves
whose amplitudes, velocities, and
propagation directions are the same,
but their frequencies differ slightly. We
can write:

A(t) = Asin(1t) + Asin( 2 t) =

 1 −  2    1 +  2  
2Acos t  sin t  .
 2    2  

The frequency of the sine term is that

of the phase, the frequency of the
cosine term is that of the “envelope”,
i.e., the group velocity.
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Expression of group velocity

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Relationship between the phase and group velocity

We know that,

Differentiating with respect to λ, we get

Again we know that,

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Again differentiating with respect to λ, we get

Now dividing Eq. (1) by Eq. (2), we get

Replacing u by vp 107
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Phase Velocity & Group Velocity
The speed at which a given
phase propagates does not
coincide with the speed of
the envelope.

Note that the phase

velocity is greater than
the group velocity.
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Sample Problems
(Book: Waves and Oscillations)

1. Pages 8-20: Examples 1.1-1.11

2. Pages 101-102: Examples 2.1 & 2.2
3. Pages 155-157: Examples 4.2-4.5

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Sample Questions
(Book: Waves and Oscillations)

1. Pages 94-98
2. Pages 118-119
3. Page 159
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Questions from Waves and Oscillations

Please also see the book:

Physics for Engineers

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