CAMBRIDGE A LEVEL

PHYSICS

OSCILLATIONS

L E A R N I N G O U TC O M E S
No.
i

ii

iii

LEARNING OUTCOME
Understand the concept of
oscillations and be able to
distinguish between free from
forced oscillations.
Learn what is meant by simple
harmonic motion (SHM) and analyse
the displacements, velocity and
acceleration for SHM.
Analyse the interchange between
kinetic and potential energy of a
system undergoing SHM.

L E A R N I N G O U TC O M E S
No.

iv
v

vi

vii

LEARNING OUTCOME
What is damping?
What kinds of damping exist? What
effect does damping has on
subsequent oscillations?
Understand the relationship
between forced oscillations and
resonance. Understand how damping
effects resonance.
Look at situations when resonance
is useful and when resonance is
undesired.

OSCILLATIONS
An oscillation is defined as a repeated
back and forth motion on either side of
a fixed position made by an object.
Examples
of
objects
undergoing
oscillation: a swinging pendulum, a
beating heart, a vibrating guitar string,
etc.

T Y P E S O F O S C I L L AT I O N S
Oscillations can be divided into:
I. free oscillations:

occur when the resultant force acting on
the object is the restoring force.

occur when a rigid body is given an initial
disturbance and allowed to come to rest
after undergoing oscillations on its own.

T Y P E S O F O S C I L L AT I O N S
I. free oscillations (contd):

This object will oscillate at its natural
frequency. The natural frequency of a
oscillating system is the frequency at which
the system will oscillate when given an
initial disturbance.

T Y P E S O F O S C I L L AT I O N S
II. forced oscillations:

forced oscillations occur when an
external driving force is used to get a
system to undergo oscillations.

The
system undergoing forced
oscillations will vibrate at a frequency
equal to the frequency of the driving
force.

EXAMPLES

Question 1, page 287, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A

Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EXAMPLES

Question 3 and Figure 19.8, page 287, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge
International AS and A Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EXAMPLES

Question 4 and Figure 19.9, page 289, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge
International AS and A Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
Definition: Simple harmonic motion is
defined as the motion of a particle
about a fixed point such that its
acceleration,
is:
I. proportional to its displacement,  from
the fixed point, and,
II. directed towards the fixed point.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
Its instantaneous displacement from the
undisturbed position,  and acceleration,

can be related by the equation
   ,
where:

 angular frequency of the object; and

    , where
= frequency of oscillations
of the system, in Hz.

The equation
    can only be solved

by using differential equations.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
A few notes about the equation

  :

I.
is directly proportional to .
 This
implies a will be maximum when x is the
largest, and a = 0 when x = 0;
II. The minus sign indicates that
acceleration is due to a restoring force;
i.e. the acceleration and instantaneous
displacement will be opposite in
direction to each other.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION

Figure 10.15; Page 265, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International
A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education,
United Kingdom, 2008.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
Figure 19.20, page
295, Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS and
A Level Physics
Coursebook, Sang,
Jones, Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition, Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge, UK,2014.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
One possible solution for the differential
equation for SHM is     ,
where:

  amplitude, or maximum possible

displacement from the undisturbed
position; and
 = angular frequency, in rad s-1.

This equation is used if timing is started (t

= 0) when object is at the undisturbed
position.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
Another possible solution is:
.

This equation is used if timing is
started (t = 0) when the object is at
point of maximum displacement.

Dislacement

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION


Image: http://clas.mq.edu.au/acoustics/waveforms/shm.gif

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
If we plot displacement, x as a
function of time, t, we obtain the
graph in the previous slide.
We always set a direction for
positive
and
negative
displacements.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
At which point(s) are acceleration:
I. maximum,
II. minimum?

How do we obtain the relationship

between velocity and time?

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
Differentiating
obtain:


w.r.t , we can
,

and by also noting that

  
, where,


 = maximum velocity.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION

We

can

also

use
,
where
amplitude,
= instantaneous
and
displacement.

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
If

we

look


at

, we see

that:
I. Speed is maximum when x = 0 (at
undisturbed position),
II.Speed is zero when    ,

SIMPLE HARMONIC
MOTION
III. The  indicates that velocity can be
positive or negative for the same
displacement because the object
could be moving away or towards the
undisturbed position,

EXAMPLES
Figure 19.15, page
291, Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Questions 7, 8 and
9, page 292,
Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Question 10 and
Figure 19.16, page
292, Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Questions 14 and
15, page 294,
Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Questions 16 and
17, page 296,
Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Questions 18,
page 296,
Chapter 19:
Oscillations;
Cambridge
International AS
and A Level
Physics
Coursebook,
Sang, Jones,
Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd
edition,
Cambridge
University Press,
Cambridge,
UK,2014.

EXAMPLES

Example; Page 267, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International
A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education,
United Kingdom, 2008.

EXAMPLES

Example; Page 267, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International
A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education,
United Kingdom, 2008.

EXAMPLES

Questions from Section 10.2 10.4; Page 271, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and
Oscillations , International A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown,
Hodder Education, United Kingdom, 2008.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
The speed and displacement of a
system
undergoing
SHM
is
changing w.r.t time.
This means that the kinetic energy
and the stored potential energy of
the system is also changing w.r.t
time.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
Diagram 14.13,
page 445, Sears
and Zemanskys
University
Physics, Young
and Freedman,
13th edition,
Pearson
Education, San
Francisco, 2012.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
To understand this, let us consider a
mass spring system that is that is
undergoing simple harmonic motion as
in the diagram in the previous slide.
When the extension of the spring is
maximum (maximum elastic potential
energy), the speed is zero (minimum
kinetic energy).

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
When the extension of the spring is
zero (minimum elastic potential
energy), the speed of the object is
maximum (maximum kinetic energy).
As the mass is moving away from its
equilibrium position, its kinetic energy
decreases, while its stored elastic
potential energy increases.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
This shows that there is an relationship
between kinetic energy and stored elastic
potential energy.
What happens is that the stored elastic
potential energy is converted into kinetic
energy as the speed increases, and kinetic
energy is converted back into elastic
potential energy as the object is slowing
down.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
Let us find the total energy of a system
undergoing SHM.
The kinetic energy of the system,

#
  ! "       )


The stored elastic potential energy,

#
   


E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
Adding both energies yields  $
#

      constant

This means that the total energy of a
system in SHM is constant, provided
there is no damping. The energy is
interchanged between kinetic energy
and elastic potential energy.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S

Diagram 14.14, page 447, Sears and Zemanskys University Physics,

Young and Freedman, 13th edition, Pearson Education, San Francisco,
2012.

E N E R G Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S

Figure 19.23, page 297, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A
Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EXAMPLES
Example from Section 10.5; Page 273, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations ,
International A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder
Education, United Kingdom, 2008.

EXAMPLES
Example from Section 10.5; Page 273, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations ,
International A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder
Education, United Kingdom, 2008.

EXAMPLES

Questions 20 and 21, page 297, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International
AS and A Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLES

Questions 22 and Figure 19.24, page 297, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge
International AS and A Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and
Woodside, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EXAMPLES

Questions from Section 10.5; Page 274, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations ,
International A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder
Education, United Kingdom, 2008.

DAMPING
So far, we have seen systems oscillating
only under the action of the restoring
force.
What happens when there exists
dissipative forces (forces that do work
on the system that remove energy
from the system)?

DAMPING
Dissipative forces reduce the
amplitude of the oscillations because
the total energy of the system would
be reduced. Examples of dissipative
forces: friction, air resistance.

DAMPING
Definition: Damping is defined as the
reduction of amplitude of oscillation
due to the action of dissipative forces
on the system.
The oscillations that continue after
damping are known as damped
oscillations.

DAMPING
There are three degrees of
damping that exist:
I. Light - damping or under damping,
II. Over - damping, and
III.Critical damping.

DAMPING
Damping is said to be light if the
amplitude of oscillation decreases
gradually with time.
The decrease in amplitude obeys an
exponential envelope as shown on the
next slide.

DAMPING

Figure 19.25, page 297, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A
Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

DAMPING
The effects of damping can be
increased to a point damping is said to
be critical.
Damping is said to be critical if the
system returns to its equilibrium
without any further oscillations over a
short time period.

DAMPING
Further increase in damping would
cause the system to be overdamped.
A system is overdamped if it returns to
the equilibrium position without any
further oscillations but over a time
period longer than that required for
critical damping.

DAMPING

Figure 10.26; Page 275, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International
A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education, United
Kingdom, 2008.

DAMPING
Examples of damped oscillating systems:

Page 275, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International A/AS Level
Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education, United Kingdom,
2008.

DAMPING
Examples of damped oscillating systems:

Page 275, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International A/AS Level
Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education, United Kingdom,
2008.

EXAMPLES

Question 23, page 299, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A
Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

F O R C E D O S C I L L AT I O N S
When we use the external driving force
to cause a system to oscillate, we are
causing the system to undergo forced
oscillations.
A system undergoing forced oscillations
will oscillate at a frequency equal to
the frequency of the driving force.

F O R C E D O S C I L L AT I O N S

Figure 10.28, Page 276, Chapter 10: Circular Motion and Oscillations , International
A/AS Level Physics, by Mee, Crundle, Arnold and Brown, Hodder Education, United
Kingdom, 2008.

RESONANCE
If the frequency of forced oscillations is

increased until the frequency of the driving

force matches the natural frequency of the
system, the system will undergo resonance.
During resonance, maximum energy
transfer from the driver to the oscillating
system occurs resulting in maximum
amplitude of vibration.

RESONANCE
The diagram on the
left slide shows how
the amplitude of the
driven system varies
as the frequency of
the driving force
increases.
Amplitude
peaks
when the frequencies
are matched.
Figure 19.32, page 300, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A
Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EFFECTS OF DAMPING
ON RESONANCE

Figure 19.34, page 301, Chapter 19: Oscillations; Cambridge International AS and A
Level Physics Coursebook, Sang, Jones, Chadha and Woodside, 2nd edition,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,2014.

EFFECTS OF DAMPING
ON RESONANCE
As shown on the previous slide, damping
reduces the effect of resonance.
Damping causes:
I. the amplitude of oscillation at all frequencies
to reduce,
II. the frequency at maximum amplitude to shift
gradually towards lower frequencies,
III. the peak to become flatter.

USE F UL R ESONA NC E
I. Microwave cooking:
When food is heated in a microwave , the
microwaves are the driving source that causes
water molecules in the food to resonate.
The water molecules absorb energy from the
microwaves causing an increase in temperature (
internal energy) and thus cook the food from
inside out.

USE F UL R ESONA NC E
II.

Reception of radio / TV signals:

A radio / TV receiver is designed to resonate at
the frequency that it is set to.
This frequency is set by tuning; i.e. changing the
channel / station.
the tuner amplifies greatly only the signal which
has a frequency equal to the set frequency.

UNDESIRED RESONANCE
I. Excessive vibrations in vehicles:
A vehicles engine will rotate at different
frequencies.
At particular frequencies of the rotation of the
engine, certain components on the vehicle may
resonate.
Dampers must be added to these components to
reduce the effects of damping.

UNDESIRED RESONANCE
II.

Excessive vibrations in structures such as

bridges / buildings:
Forced oscillations on structures occur during
seismic movements (earthquakes) . Forced
oscillations may also occur on certain structures
like bridges when there are a lot of movement,
e.g. when a lot of vehicles and / or people are
moving across it, excessive winds.

UNDESIRED RESONANCE
II.

Excessive vibrations in structures such as

bridges / buildings (contd):
This could cause these structures to resonate.
Prolonged resonance may lead to structural
damages and even collapse of the structure, e.g.
collapse of buildings during earthquakes, the
Tacoma bridge disaster in 1940. (view video :
Film_of_collapse ).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2008, Paper 4, question 3.

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2008, Paper 4, question 3 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2008, Paper 4, question 3 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2008, Paper 4, question 3 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2008, Paper 4, question 3 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2.

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2 (contd).

EXAMPLES
May/Jun 2010, Paper 42, question 2 (contd).

HOMEWORK
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Oct/Nov 2008, Paper 4, question 3.

May/June 2009, Paper 4 , question 4.
Oct/Nov 2009, Paper 41, question 4.
Oct/Nov 2009, Paper 42, question 3.
May/June 2010, Paper 41, question 3.
Oct/Nov 2010, Paper 41, question 3.
Oct/Nov 2010, Paper 43, question 3.
May/June 2011, Paper 41, question 3.

HOMEWORK
9. Oct/Nov 2011, Paper 43, question 3.
10.May/June 2012, Paper 41, question 4.
11.May/June 2012, Paper 42, question 2.
12.Oct/Nov 2012, Paper 41, question 4.
13.Oct/Nov 2012, Paper 43, question 2.