Waves & Oscillations

By
Dr Mustansar Hayat Saggu
 Periodic motion
• When you pluck a guitar string, the resulting sound has a
steady tone and lasts a long time (Figure).
• The string vibrates around an equilibrium position, and one
oscillation is completed when the string starts from the initial
position, travels to one of the extreme positions, then to the
other extreme position, and returns to its initial position.
• We define periodic motion to be any motion that repeats
itself at regular time intervals, such as exhibited by the guitar
string or by a child swinging on a swing. In this section, we
study the basic characteristics of oscillations and their
mathematical description.
Periodic motion
 Period and Frequency in Oscillations

• In the absence of friction, the time to complete one

oscillation remains constant and is called the period
(T). Its units are usually seconds, but may be any
convenient unit of time. The word ‘period’ refers to
the time for some event whether repetitive or not.
• A concept closely related to period is the frequency
of an event. Frequency (f) is defined to be the
number of events per unit time. For periodic motion,
frequency is the number of oscillations per unit time.
The relationship between frequency and period is
Period and Frequency in Oscillations
Characteristics of Simple Harmonic Motion

• A very common type of periodic motion is

called simple harmonic motion (SHM). A
system that oscillates with SHM is called
a simple harmonic oscillator.
 SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

• In simple harmonic motion, the acceleration

of the system, and therefore the net force, is
proportional to the displacement and acts in
the opposite direction of the displacement.
 Example
• A good example of SHM is an object with mass m attached to a
spring on a frictionless surface, as shown in Figure . The
object oscillates around the equilibrium position, and the net
force on the object is equal to the force provided by the
spring. This force obeys Hooke’s law Fs=−kx,
• If the net force can be described by Hooke’s law and there is
no damping (slowing down due to friction or other non-
conservative forces), then a simple harmonic oscillator
oscillates with equal displacement on either side of the
equilibrium position, as shown for an object on a spring
in Figure .
• The maximum displacement from equilibrium is called
the amplitude (A).
• The units for amplitude and displacement are the same but
depend on the type of oscillation.
• For the object on the spring, the units of amplitude and
displacement are meters.
Examples
 Equations of SHM

• Consider a block attached to a spring on a

frictionless table (Figure 15). The equilibrium
position (the position where the spring is
neither stretched nor compressed) is marked
as x=0x=0. At the equilibrium position, the net
force is zero.
Equations of SHM
 Simple pendulum

• The simple pendulum is another mechanical system that

moves in an oscillatory motion. It consists of a point mass
‘m’ suspended by means of light inextensible string of
length L from a fixed support as shown in Fig. The motion
occurs in a vertical plane and is driven by a
gravitational force. The forces which are acting on the mass
are shown in the figure. The tangential component of the
gravitational force, mg sin θ, always acts towards the mean
position θ = 0 (at mean position) opposite to the
displacement, restoring force acting tangent to the arc.
Simple pendulum
 Difference Between Longitudinal and Transverse Wave

• A wave is a disturbance that propagates energy from one place to

another without transporting any matter. A general example would be a
stone hitting the surface of the water and creating ripples that travel in
the shape of concentric circles with its radius increasing until they strike
the boundary of the pond. There are various types of waves and two of
those would be longitudinal and transverse waves.
• In a longitudinal wave, the medium or the channel moves in the same
direction with respect to the wave. Here, the movement of the particles
is from left to right and forces other particles to vibrate.
• In a transverse wave the medium or the channel moves perpendicular
to the direction of the wave. Here, the particles move up and down as
the waves move horizontally
Difference Between Longitudinal and
Transverse Wave
Difference Between Longitudinal and
Transverse Wave
 Note
• A P wave, or compressional wave, is a seismic
body wave that shakes the ground back and
forth in the same direction and the opposite
direction as the direction the wave is moving
• When an earthquake occurs, it releases
energy waves, known as Seismic waves. It is
like the ripples created in water if you throw
a stone in it
 The Speed of a Traveling Wave

• Have you ever noticed how fast sound travels? Sound and light
form traveling waves. Can the velocity of a traveling wave be
measured? If yes, on what factors does the velocity of a
traveling wave depend? You know about light waves, sound
waves and more! How fast are these waves? Let us find out the
speed of a traveling wave.
• A traveling wave is a wave that moves in space. So, what do we
mean by a wave velocity or speed? A wave can be represented
graphically as shown below. Consider a wave that is traveling in
the positive direction of X-axis. We can represent this wave by
the equation y = A sin (kx – ωt) or the wave equation. Here, A is
the amplitude, and k is the propagation constant.
The Speed of a Traveling Wave
The Speed of a Traveling Wave
Speed of a Transverse Wave on Stretched String

• The speed of transverse waves on a string

depends on two main factors
• The linear mass density or mass per unit
length, μ (say)
• The tension T of the string.
Speed of a Transverse Wave
 Speed of a Longitudinal Wave

• In a longitudinal wave, the constituents of the

medium oscillate back and forth in the direction
of propagation of the wave. We know that the
sound waves travel in the form of compression
and rarefactions of the small volume element of
the medium. Therefore, the property that
determines the extent to which the volume of an
element of a medium change when the pressure
on it changes, is the bulk modulus B, given by:
Speed of a Longitudinal Wave
Speed of a Longitudinal Wave
 Damped harmonic oscillator
• The damped harmonic oscillator is a classic
problem in mechanics. It describes the
movement of a mechanical oscillator (e.g
spring pendulum) under the influence of a
restoring force and friction.
Damped Harmonic Oscillator
Underdamped oscillator
 Note
• critically damped condition in which the damping of an oscillator
causes it to return as quickly as possible to its equilibrium
position without oscillating back and forth about this position
• natural angular frequency angular frequency of a system
oscillating in SHM
• over damped condition in which damping of an oscillator causes
it to return to equilibrium without oscillating; oscillator moves
more slowly toward equilibrium than in the critically damped
system
• Under damped condition in which damping of an oscillator
causes the amplitude of oscillations of a damped harmonic
oscillator to decrease over time, eventually approaching zero
 Damped system
• Under damped systems have a value of less
than one. Critically damped systems have a
damping ratio of exactly 1, or at least very
close to it.
 EM waves
• Definition: Electromagnetic waves or EM
waves are waves that are created as a result of
vibrations between an electric field and a
magnetic field. In other words, EM waves are
composed of oscillating magnetic and electric
fields.
 EM waves
• Electromagnetic waves are formed when an
electric field comes in contact with a magnetic
field. They are hence known as
‘electromagnetic’ waves. The electric field and
magnetic field of an electromagnetic wave are
perpendicular (at right angles) to each other.
They are also perpendicular to the direction of
the EM wave.
 Examples
• Examples of EM waves are radio waves,
microwaves, infrared waves, X-rays, gamma
rays, etc
•End