PhysicsCode 9702
Simple harmonic oscillations
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- understand and apply the vocabulary of displacement, amplitude, period, frequency, angular frequency and phase difference as it applies to oscillations, and express the period through frequency and also through angular frequency
- understand that simple harmonic motion arises if the acceleration is in direct proportion to the displacement from a fixed point and is directed oppositely to it
- use a = –ω²x; recall x = x0 sin ωt, one solution of that equation, and use it
- apply the two velocity equations v = v0 cos ωt and v = ±ω√(x0² − x²)
- analyse and interpret graphical representations showing how displacement, velocity and acceleration change in simple harmonic motion