Oscillations

Anything that swings or bounces or vibrates in a regular motion is said to oscillate. For example a pendulum, a child on a swing, or a spring bouncing up and down.

simple harmonic motion
quantitative treatment using a = –ω²x and its solution x = A cos ωt

The link between an oscillating system undergoing simple harmonic motion and a sinusoidal wave is quite an easy one for students to understand, but the mathematics can be quite complicated for them.

Whilst this list provides a source of information and ideas for experimental work, it is important to note that recommendations can date very quickly. Do NOT follow suggestions which conflict with current advice from CLEAPSS or recent safety guides. eLibrary users are responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is consistent with current regulations related to Health and Safety and that they carry an appropriate risk assessment. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance.

Teacher guidance

Quality AssuredCategory:PhysicsPublisher:Institute of Physics (IOP)

The prior knowledge detailed in this resource is useful. Students will struggle unless they are comfortable with the relationship between sine and cosine.

Quality AssuredCategory:SciencePublisher:Institute of Physics (IOP)

Students need to have a good understanding of the the features of simple harmonic motion before dealing with the mathematical relationships. This resource provides many example demonstrations. The one that the students find easiest to understand is the trolley between two springs as the magnitude of restoring force can be linked to the length of the spring. It is harder to see in a swinging pendulum.

Quality AssuredCategory:SciencePublisher:Institute of Physics (IOP)

This is a hard topic mathematically, and this resource has a number of ideas to help students get to grips with the formula and relationship between x, v and a.

Quality AssuredCategory:SciencePublisher:Institute of Physics (IOP)

The oscillating mass and spring is a simpler system to understand than the pendulum. Students can link Hooke's law to allow them to calculate the magnitude of the restoring force in the system.

This resource has a number of questions for students to do as well as practical ideas.

Quality AssuredCategory:SciencePublisher:Institute of Physics (IOP)

This resource contains a good selection of investigations for students to do to allow them to measure oscillating pendulum systems. These experiments are good for getting students to think about timing in experiments. There are a range of measurement techniques from stopwatch to data loggers.

External link

This 5 minute YouTube video discusses the issues faced by the London Millenium bridge and other bridges due to lateral vibrations.

A quick YouTube video discussing the difference between resonance and aero-elastic flutter. Great for a discussion topic.

This simulation of an rotating system of vectors shows the relationship between x, v, and a in an oscilliating system. This can help students visualise the relationship and show how the equations used are linked.

GeoGebra provides an interactive resource to illustrate simple harmonic motion with mass on a Spring.

This is a very easy to use simulation of a pendulum system, with a number of controls that can be altered, including friction in the system. It displays energy changes that occur during the pendulum swing and also shows how the period of the pendulum should be calculated. It's a good idea to show this before students perform a physical experiment.

This quick two minute video demonstrates fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual travelling waves, standing waves, beating, and (seemingly) random motion.