6.

1
WAVES WAVES
DAMPING AND RESONANCE
IN AN OSCILLATING SYSTEMS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this lesson, the student should
be able to:
Describe damping in an oscillating system
Describe resonance in a oscillating system Describe resonance in a oscillating system
What can you say about the amplitude of the
swing?
What can you do to maintain or increase the
amplitude?
At the start, the pendulum oscillates
with maximum amplitude.
The amplitude of the oscillation
decreases with time and finally stops.
What causes the pendulum to stop?
Air friction causes the amplitude of the
pendulum to decrease.
When the pendulum oscillates, it has energy.
This energy is used to overcome air friction.
As time passes, more energy of the pendulum As time passes, more energy of the pendulum
is being used to overcome air friction.
This causes the energy of the pendulum to
decreases.
As a result, the amplitude becomes smaller.
The pendulum is said to experience damping.
Damping
Damping is the decrease in the amplitude of
an oscillating system when its energy is lost
as heat energy.
The amplitude of an oscillating system will The amplitude of an oscillating system will
gradually decrease and become zero when
the oscillation stops.
Activity 2:
Damping effect in a
vibrating system
Set up the apparatus as
shown below.
Fix a saw blade
horizontally on the leg of
a laboratory bench using a laboratory bench using
a G-clamp.
At the other end of the
blade, fix a piece of
plasticine (50 g)
Move the plasticine to
the position X and
release it.
Observe the position Y
reached by the plasticine.
Observe subsequent Y
positions of the plasticine.
Observation:
What changes do you
observe in the position
Y over several
oscillations?
Conclusion:
Position Y decreases
Conclusion:
The position Y becomes _________ to the
equilibrium position each time the plasticine
oscillates.
closer
Why does the spring oscillate closer and closer to the
equilibrium position?
Its amplitude decreases.
What happens to the energy possessed by the
plasticine and the blade?
Energy possess decreases and lost to heat.
What happens to the oscillation of the blade after a What happens to the oscillation of the blade after a
long time?
It will stop.
What is the name given to this phenomenon?
Damping
How do you overcome the damping effect of the
oscillation
Give external force or push the plasticine ball.
A mother puts her
baby to sleep in a
sarong cradle. She
needs to
continuously move
the sarong cradle up
and down.
What happen to the sarong cradle
when the mother stops moving the
cradle up and down?
Amplitude decreases
Suggest a reason for the
movement of the sarong cradle
discussed in (a).
Damping, lost energy to heat Damping, lost energy to heat
What must you do if you want to
help the mother to maintain the
movement of the cradle?
Move the cradle up and down
/ give external force
Forced oscillation & Damping
The swing will stop
The boy is given a
The swing will stop
swinging due to
damping.
The boy is given a
periodic push at the
correct timing will
continue to swing
without stopping.
A system oscillates at
its natural frequency
when no external
force is applied to it.
When a periodic force
If a periodic force is
applied to the swing
at its natural
frequency, the
amplitude of the
Forced oscillation & Damping
When a periodic force
is applied to an
oscillating system, the
response depends on
the frequency of the
periodic force.
amplitude of the
swing increases as the
energy of the swing
increases.
The swing is said to
be in resonance and it
oscillates with a
maximum amplitude.
Resonance in an oscillating system
To enable an oscillating system to go on
continuously, an external force must be
applied to the system.
The external force supplies energy to the The external force supplies energy to the
system. Such a motion is called a forced
oscillation
Natural frequency is the frequency of a
system which oscillates freely without the
action of an external force.
Resonance in an oscillating system
Resonance occurs when a system is made to
oscillate at a frequency equivalent to its
natural frequency by an external force. natural frequency by an external force.
The resonating system oscillates at its
maximum amplitude.
Bartons pendulum
The frequency of a simple pendulum depends
on the length of the pendulum.
In Bartons pendulum experiment, there are
many pendulums tied to the rope. Two of
the pendulum are of the same length the pendulum are of the same length
When pendulum B oscillates, all the other
pendulums are forced to
oscillate.
Bartons pendulum
But pendulum D oscillates with the largest
amplitude, ie, pendulum D resonates
Pendulum B and pendulum D are of the same
length.
Frequency B equal Frequency D Frequency B equal Frequency D
Therefore, pendulum B causes pendulum D
to oscillate at its natural frequency.
Effects of resonance
Breaking glass
The frequency of the sound is equal to the
natural frequency of the glass. Resonance
occurs and the glass vibrates with largest
amplitude and it breaks. amplitude and it breaks.
Tacoma Bridge collapsed in 1940
The wind have the same frequency as the
natural frequency of the vibration of the
bridge. Resonance occurred and caused the
bridge to collapse.
Question 1
A system vibrates with a natural
frequency. If a forced vibration of the
same frequency is given to the system,
what will happen? what will happen?
A. Damping
B. Vibration
C. Resonance
When does an oscillating system
experiences damping?
A. When the amplitude of oscillation
decreases
Question 2
decreases
B when the period decreases
C when the frequency increases
D when the amplitude remains
constant