21.04.2015 Views

Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Lesson 25<br />

Harmonic Oscillations<br />

If a spr<strong>in</strong>g is extended from its rest<strong>in</strong>g length by an amount y then a restor<strong>in</strong>g<br />

force, opposite <strong>in</strong> direction from but proportional to the displacement<br />

will attempt to pull the spr<strong>in</strong>g back; the subsequent motion of an object of<br />

mass m attached to the end of the spr<strong>in</strong>g is described by Newton’s laws of<br />

motion:<br />

my ′′ = −ky (25.1)<br />

where k is a positive constant that is determ<strong>in</strong>ed by the mechanical properties<br />

of the spr<strong>in</strong>g. The right-hand side of quation (25.1) – that the force<br />

is proportional to the displacement – is known as Hooke’s Law.<br />

Simple Harmonic Motion<br />

Rearrang<strong>in</strong>g equation (25.1),<br />

y ′′ + ω 2 y = 0 (25.2)<br />

where ω = √ k/m is called the oscillation frequency. Equation (25.2)<br />

is called the simple harmonic oscillator equation because there are no<br />

additional drag or forc<strong>in</strong>g functions. The oscillator, once started, cont<strong>in</strong>ues<br />

to oscillate forever <strong>in</strong> this model. There are no physical realizations of<br />

(25.2) <strong>in</strong> nature because there is always some amount of drag. To keep a<br />

spr<strong>in</strong>g mov<strong>in</strong>g we need to add a motor. Before we see how to describe drag<br />

and forc<strong>in</strong>g functions we will study the simple oscillator.<br />

211

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!