Simple Harmonic Motion 77

Experiment 12: Simple Harmonic Motion

I. About the Experiment

M ost of the information our senses receive about the world in which we live comes to us in the form
of waves. Wave motion brings sounds to our ears, light to our eyes, and electromagnetic signals
to our radios and T.V.'s. Wave motion can be defined as the transfer of energy from a source to a
distant receiver without the transfer of matter between the two.

Many types of wave motion are generated by different types of mechanical oscillations. One of the
least complicated of these mechanical oscillations is known as simple harmonic motion. In order to
develop an insight into some of the types of forces that control many forms of wave motion we are
going to examine the simple harmonic motions exhibited by a oscillating spring and a simple
pendulum.

In order for an object to oscillate it must be acted upon by a force that acts in the opposite direction of
its displacement. If the force is directly proportional to the displacement it is known as a Hooke's Law
force. Such a force leads to a oscillatory motion that is particularly easy to analyze and the motion is
referred to as Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM).

Thus Simple Harmonic Motion is defined as motion for which the rnet restoring force is directly
r
proportional to the displacement away from the equilibrium position, F ∝ − x . If the position of an
object can be specified by giving just one coordinate (e.g. motion only along a horizontal axis or the
motion of a pendulum) we can do away with the vector notation and simply write

F = −kx = ma Eqn. 1

where x is the displacement from the equilibrium position, F is the restoring force (the negative sign
means F and x are opposite in direction), and k is the force constant. This leads to an acceleration
given by
d2 x k
a = 2 = − x = −(constant )x Eqn. 2
dt m

Any physical system where the acceleration is equal to a negative constant times
the displacement will move with Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM).
The general solution of Equation 2 is

x = A cos(2πft + δ)
k Eqn. 3
4π 2 f 2 = = (constant )
m

You can convince your self that Eqn. 3 solves equation 2 by simply differentiating Eqn. 3 twice.

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The following terms are used to describe SHM:
displacement (x) - distance from equilibrium position of the oscillating object at any time t.
amplitude (A) - maximum value of displacement.
frequency (f) - number of oscillations per unit time.
cycle - one complete oscillation of the system.
1
period (T) - time for 1 cycle. T =
f
phase constant (δ) - the value of δ determines the value of x at t = 0 and the direction of motion at t = 0.

A mass moving vertically on the end of a spring satisfies the conditions for SHM, if we assume that the
spring is massless and the displacement of the mass from equilibrium is small. A simple pendulum (all
of the pendulums mass is at the end) also satisfies the conditions for SHM if the angle ( θ ) the
pendulum makes with the vertical is small enough that sin(θ ) ≈ θ .

In general for all types of simple harmonic motion the period is given by
1 1
T= = 2π Eqn. 4
f (constant )
For a mass m on the end of a (massless) spring of force constant k the period is given by
Tspring = 2π m k Eqn. 5
For a pendulum of length L in a gravitational field g the period is given by
Tpendulum = 2π L g Eqn. 6
where L is the length of the pendulum measured from the top to the center of mass of the bob and g is
the usual acceleration due to gravity. (Equation 6 is for simple pendulum where we assume all the mass
of the pendulum is a distance L from the pivot point.)

If we square the equations for the periods we obtain

= 4π 2 m k
2 2
Tspring and Tpendulum = 4π 2 L g Eqn. 7
which says that the square of the period for a mass m on the end of a spring is proportional to m and
the square of the period for a pendulum of length L is proportional to L. Thus if we plot T2 vs. m and
T2 vs. L on regular graph paper, we should obtain straight lines whose slopes are 4π2/k and 4π2/g
respectively.

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Simple Harmonic Motion 79

II. The Experimental Set-up

In this experiment we will experimentally determine the periods for oscillating springs with different
masses and pendulums of different lengths. Using the technique of least squares fitting we will
determine the slope of the best fit straight line when T2 is plotted versus m for the spring and L for the
pendulum. From these slopes you will determine k from the spring data and g from the pendulum
data. The value of k will be compared with the spring constant determined by a direct measurement of
the amount a spring stretches with an increased load and g will be compared with the known value.

θ L

m0 x

m0 + m

Figure 1

III. Procedure

PENDULUM:

1. Period of oscillation as a function of length (L).

Measure the period of oscillation for pendulums of lengths L = 25 cm, 50 cm, 75 cm, 100 cm, 125 cm,
and 150 cm. Average at least ten complete cycles to determine T. Remember the length L is the
length from the top of the string to the center of the bob. Be sure to keep the amplitude small -
about 5° each side of the equilibrium position. Refer to Figure 1.

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SPRING:

2. Direct determination of the force constant k.

Hang your spring with the tapered end up. Place an arbitrary load (m0) on your spring, large
enough to insure that the coils are separated. Add some known mass, m, to this load and measure
the increase in length, x, of the spring. Refer to Figure 1. (Do not stretch your spring close to its
elastic limit!)

3. Period of oscillation as a function of mass (m).

Measure the period of oscillation for the spring when the total mass hung from the end of the
spring is m = 75 g, 125 g, 175 g, 200 g, 225 g and 250 g Start the oscillation by displacing the
mass a small distance below the equilibrium position. Average at least ten complete cycles to
determine T.

4. Measure the mass of the spring only.

IV. Calculations and Analysis

1. Enter the data from Part 1II into a spreadsheet and calculate T2. Use the computer to make a plot
of T2 versus L.

2. Determine the slope of the best fit straight line for your data points by using Excel's built in
function LINEST(y_values, x_values). This function returns the slope and intercept as a two
element array. These elements are selected by the INDEX function. Figure 2 is a sample
spreadsheet giving an example of how to use the LINEST and the INDEX functions to obtain the
slope and intercept from a set of data. The LINEST function use the method of least squares to
obtain the straight line that best fits the data set.

Note: Not all spreadsheets have the LINEST function or its equivalent. Section VI in this chapter
discuss the least squares algorithm and how it can be implemented on any spreadsheet.

Figure 2

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Simple Harmonic Motion 81

3. Determine g from the slope. (Note: slope = 4π2 /g; refer to Equation 7)

4. Compare your calculated value of g to actual value of 9.81m/s2. Note: you are comparing a
measured value to a known value. What do you consider to be the sources of error for this
portion of the experiment?

5. Does your plot pass through the origin? Would you expect it to? Why?

mg
6. From the data of part III.2 calculate k for the spring using k = x where m is the additional mass
(i.e. does not include m0).

7. Enter the data from Part III.3 into the same spreadsheet and calculate T2. Use the computer to
make a plot of T2 versus m.

8. Determine the slope of the best fit straight line for your data points by using Excel's built in
function LINEST(y_values, x_values).

9. Calculate k from the slope of your graph (Note: slope = 4π2 /k; refer to Equation 7)

10. Compare the results of 6 and 9. Note: you are comparing two measured values. What do you
consider to be the sources of error for this portion of the experiment?

11. Does your plot pass through the origin?

12. If your plot does not pass through the origin, what is the intercept on the m (x) axis? How does
this compare with the mass of your spring? What is your explanation for the plot not passing
through the origin?

V. Questions

1. Must a spring obey Hooke's Law in order to oscillate? Explain.

2. When a body is vibrating in linear simple harmonic motion, is its acceleration zero at any point in
the motion? Where and why?

3. A 70 kg man notices that his 1400 kg car has its center of gravity lowered by 0.50 cm when he
gets into it. With what natural frequency would you expect the car to vibrate up and down on its
springs?

4. What is the frequency of a pendulum whose normal period is T when it is in an elevator in free
fall?

5. We usually assume the mass of a spring is negligible compared to the mass hung from it. But if
not negligible, does the mass of the spring increase or decrease the period of motion?

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VI. The Method of Least Squares
The principal of least squares is based on the assertion that the most probable value of a measured
quantity x is that value of x which minimizes the sum of the squares of the deviations of the measured
value from the most probable value. That is, the most probable value of x is determined from a set of
measured values xi by minimizing the function
N
2
∑(x − x ) i
i=1

When applying this principle to a data set where there is a linear relationship between the dependent
variable (y_values) and the independent variable (x_values), the methods of the calculus can be applied
to this minimization problem. This results in the following formulas for the slope and the intercept.

slope =
( ∑ x y ) − (∑ x )(∑ y )
N i i i i
2
N( ∑ x ) − (∑ x )
2
i i
Eqn.8

intercept =
(∑ y )( ∑ x ) − (∑ x )(∑ x y )
i
2
i i i i
2
N (∑ x ) − (∑ x ) 2
i i
Eqn.9

where N is the number of data points and all sums are from 1 to N. Although messy, this is straight
forward to implement on a spreadsheet if the different sums are done in separate cells.

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