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Simple Harmonic Motion

Simple harmonic motion is the oscillatory motion that is sinusoidal when the displacement follows a sinusoidal curve when it is plotted against time. Simple harmonic motion assumes no damping or frictional forces and hence it is an ideal that is not observed in nature, but close approximations include a mass bobbing up and down on a spring or the two-and-fro swinging of a pendulum. In this document we will consider two examples of simple harmonic motion: a mechanical one of a mass on a spring and an electrical one of a circuit containing a capacitor and an inductor. A mechanical example of simple harmonic motion is illustrated in the following diagrams. A mass is attached to a spring as follows. This represents the equilibrium position. Spring stiffness k Mass m m

ICE

It is presumed that there is no friction or resistance to the motion. The mass is then moved a distance A in the x-direction as follows.

The mass is then released. If we plot the coordinate of the mass with respect to time we typically find it follows a sinusoidal form. In fact taking time=0 as the time of release, we have a the equation of motion that resembles X=cos(t) where is known as the angular frequency.

time

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Note =2f where f is the frequency of the oscillation in Hertz. The time period of the oscillation is denoted T and T=1/f .
We let x denote the displacement (to the right), x dx denote the velocity dt

and x

d 2x denote the acceleration1. dt 2

Consider the dynamics of the mass in a general position with displacement x from the equilibrium position.

kx

x Applying Newtons second law2, force equals mass times acceleration, the force on the mass is the tension in the spring and is equal to kx. This gives the equation

m kx x
since the tension (compression) acts in the opposite direction to the displacement, or m kx 0 . x This is a second order ordinary differential equation 3 (ODE). The solutions of the equation have the form ), which has the characteristics of an angular frequency and an amplitude . The just enables us to place the starting time to suit any initial condition. If we differentiate4 above, we obtain ) we obtain ) and . Substituting these forms back into the equation

Which gives
Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration Newtons Laws of Motion 3 Ordinary Differential Equations 4 Differentiation
1 2

, giving the natural frequency

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For the electrical example, consider the series LC (that is one containing an inductor and a capacitor) circuit below:

where the capacitance is C, the inductance is L and the potential difference across the whole circuit is E. It is assumed that the circuit has no resistance. The voltage across the capacitor is given by:

The voltage across the inductor is:

. The overall equation is:

or

If E =0 then the following second order ordinary differential equation is obtained:

If we assume sinusoidal solutions of the form

Then ODE gives .

and substituting these expressions back into the