SHM-

Simple Harmonic Motion

A pendulum, a mass on a spring, and many other kinds of oscillators exhibit a special
kind of oscillatory motion called Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM).

SHM occurs whenever :

there is a restoring force proportional to the displacement from equilibrium.
the period T or frequency f = 1 / T is independent of the amplitude of the
motion.
the position x, the velocity v, and the acceleration a are all sinusoidal (or
harmonic) in time.
x v

t t

Any one of these three properties guarantees the other two. If one of these 3 things is
true, then the oscillator is a Simple Harmonic Oscillator and all 3 things must be true.

Not every kind of oscillation is SHM. For instance, a perfectly elastic ball bouncing
up and down on a floor: the ball's position (height) is oscillating up and down, but
none of the 3 conditions above is satisfied, so this is not an example of SHM.

A mass on a spring is the simplest kind of Simple Harmonic Oscillator.

k Frestore Hooke's Law: Fspring = k x

m
x () sign because direction of Fspring is
opposite to the direction of
relaxed: x = 0 displacement vector x

Frestore k = spring constant = stiffness,

units [k] = N / m

x Big k = stiff spring

x
Recall PEelastic = (1/2) k x2 = work done to compress or extend spring by distance x.

Definition: amplitude A = |xmax| = |xmin|. m

x
Mass oscillates between extreme positions x = +A and x = A A 0 +A
 SHM-

SHM and Conservation of Energy:

If no friction, then total energy Etot = KE + PE = constant during oscillation. The

value of Etot depends on initial conditions where the mass is and how fast it is
moving initially. But once the mass is set in motion, Etot stays constant (assuming no
dissipation.)

At any position x, speed v is such that 1

2 m v2 1
2 k x 2 E tot .

KE PE E tot
When |x| = A, then v = 0, and all the energy is PE: {0 {
(1/ 2)kA 2

So total energy E tot 1

2 k A2

KE
{ PE
{ E tot
When x = 0, v = vmax, and all the energy is KE: 2 0
(1/ 2)m v max

So, total energy E tot

2
1
2 m v max .

So, can relate vmax to amplitude A : PEmax = KEmax = Etot 1

2 k A2 1
2 m v max 2

k
v max A
m

Example Problem: A mass m on a spring with spring constant k is oscillating with

amplitude A. Derive a general formula for the speed v of the mass when its position
is x.
2

Answer: v(x) A
k x
1
m A

Understand these things:

range of motion

x = 0
|x| = A |v| = max
v=0 PE = min
PE = max KE = max
KE = min |F| = 0
|F| = max |a| = 0
|a| = max
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SHM and circular motion

It turns out that there is an exact analogy between SHM and circular motion.
Consider a particle moving with constant speed v around the rim of a circle of radius
A.
The x-component of the position of the particle has exactly the same mathematical
form as the motion of a mass on a spring executing SHM with amplitude A.
v
angular velocity
A t
t so

x x A cos A cos t
This same formula also describes the sinusoidal
A +A motion of a mass on a spring.

Let's review the sine and cosine functions and their relation to the unit circle. We
often define the sine and cosine functions this way:

adj
cos
hypotenuse hyp
opposite
opp
sin
adjacent hyp

This way of defining sine and cosine is correct but incomplete. It is hard to see from
this definition how to get the sine or cosine of an angle greater than 90o.

A more complete way of defining sine and

cosine, a way that gives the value of the sine and
cosine for any angle, is this: Draw a unit circle (a point (x, y)
circle of radius r = 1) centered on the origin of r=
the x-y axes as shown here: 1 y

Define sine and cosine as
x
adj x
cos x
hyp 1
opp y
sin y
hyp 1

This way of defining sin and cos allows us to compute the sin or cos of any angle at
all.
 SHM-

For instance, suppose the angle is = 210o. Then the

diagram looks like this:

The point on the unit circle is in the third quadrant, where

both x and y are negative. So both cos = x and x
sin = y are negative y
1

point (x, y)

For any angle , even angles bigger than 360o (more than once around the circle), we
can always compute sin and cos. When we plot sin and cos vs angle , we get
functions that oscillate between +1 and 1 like so:

cos sin
= 3600
+1 +1

1 1
= 3600

We will almost always measure angle in radians. Once around the circle is 2
radians, so sine and cosine functions are periodic and repeat every time increases by
2 rad. The sine and cosine functions have exactly the same shape, except that sin is
shifted to the right compared to cos. Both these functions are called sinusoidal
functions.

Now back to simple harmonic motion. Instead of a circle of radius 1, we have a circle
of radius A (where A is the amplitude of the Simple Harmonic Motion).

We aim to show that, for a simple harmonic oscillator consisting of a mass m on

spring with constant k, if the period is T, then the position as a function of time t is
given by:

2
x A cos t where and, furthermore, is related to the k and m by
T

k

m

Let's first try to make sense of this: big means small T which means rapid
oscillations. According to our formula= (k/m), we get a big when k is big and
m is small. This makes sense: a big k (stiff spring) and a small mass m will indeed
produce very rapid oscillations and a big .
 SHM-

Ok, so where does this formula = (k/m) come from and what's the connection with
circular motion?

Newton's 2nd law (in 1D) is Fnet = m a . Applying this to a mass on a spring (Fnet =
kx) we get
k
k x m a or a x (1)
m
This equation says: (acceleration a) = (positive constant) (position x) . This is
called an equation of motion. Anytime we have this equation of motion, then we have
SHM since this equation is equivalent to the condition | Frestore | |displacement from
equilibrium| .

We can show that the x-component (or the y-component) of a particle moving with
constant speed v around a circle obeys the same equation (1) [ a = (k/m)x]. Recall
that for circular motion with angular speed , the acceleration of a the particle is
toward the center and has magnitude
R
2
r v2 r
|a| , but v = R, so we can rewrite this as | a | 2 R
R R
v
a
R

A +A

0
Notice that the acceleration vector a is always in the direction opposite the
r r
displacement vector R . In vector language, a 2 R . The x-component of this
vector equation is: a x R x . If we write Rx = x , then we have
2

a x 2 x 2 A cos 2 A cos t . (2)

This equation (2) is has the same form as equation (1):
(acceleration) = (positive constant) (position).
Comparing the positive constants in the two equations (1) and (2), we see the
k
equations are identical if we set
2
.
m

2 k m
Notice T 2
T m k

Notice that period T is independent of the amplitude A; it depends only on the mass m
and the spring constant k.
 SHM-

Pendulum Motion

A simple pendulum consists of a small mass m suspended at the end of a massless

string of length L. A pendulum executes SHM, if the amplitude is not too large.

Forces on mass :
FT = tension
L
mg sin
mg cos

x
mg
x / L (rads)

x
restoring force = mg sin mg mg
L
h
Claim: sin (rads) when is small. sin
L
s

R

If small, then h s, and L R,

so sin .

L
Try it on your calculator: = 5o = s
h
0.087266.. rad
sin =
0.087156..
R
mg
Frestore x is exactly like Hooke's Law Frestore k x , except we have
L
replace the constant k with another constant (mg / L). The math is exactly the same as
with a mass on a spring; all results are the same, except we replace k with (mg/L).

m m L
Tspring 2 Tpend 2 2
k mg / L g
 SHM-

Notice that the period is independent of the amplitude; the period depends only on
length L and acceleration of gravity. (But this is true only if is not too large.)