Chapter 2 – Simple Harmonic Motion and Waves

Deadline: 11/9 10am

Name: Student ID: Session ID (1001 or 1002):

Note: Please take gravity acceleration 𝑔 = 10m/𝑠 2 for simplicity.

(10 marks for each question)

1. An object attached to a horizontal spring is oscillating back and forth along a frictionless surface.
The maximum speed of the object is 0.65 m/s, and its maximum acceleration is 7.42 m/s2. How
much time elapses between an instant when the object’s speed is at a maximum and the next
instant when its acceleration is at a maximum?

Solution: It has been known that for simple harmonic motion:

𝑘
𝑣𝑚𝑎𝑥 = √ 𝐴
𝑚

𝑘𝐴
𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
𝑚
Therefore, the period of the object:
𝑚 𝑣𝑚𝑎𝑥 0.65m/s
𝑇 = 2𝜋√ = 2𝜋 = 2𝜋 = 0.550𝑠
𝑘 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 7.42m/𝑠 2
The time duration between maximum speed and maximum acceleration is a quarter of period:

𝑇
𝑡= = 0.138𝑠
4

2. A 70.0-kg circus performer is fired from a cannon that is elevated at an angle of 40°above the
horizontal. The cannon uses strong elastic bands to propel the performer, much in the same way
that a slingshot fires a stone. Setting up for this stunt involves stretching the bands by 3.00 m
from their unstrained length. At the point where the performer flies free of the bands, his height
above the floor is the same as the height of the net into which he is shot. He takes 2.14 s to
travel the horizontal distance of 26.8 m between this point and the net. Ignore friction and air
resistance and determine the effective spring constant of the firing mechanism

Solution: The horizontal velocity of performer in the air can be calculated as:
26.8𝑚
𝑣𝑥 = = 12.5𝑚/𝑠
2.14𝑠
 Because perform was shot at an angle of 40°above the horizontal , the vertical velocity when
he left the cannon is:

𝑣𝑦 = 𝑣𝑥 tan 40° = 10.5𝑚/𝑠

The total kinetic energy of the performer when he left the cannon:

1 1
𝐸𝑘 = 𝑚𝑣𝑥 2 + 𝑚𝑣𝑦 2 = 9320𝐽
2 2
The kinetic energy of the performer was transformed by the elastic energy of rubber band and
the change of gravitational potential energy. Therefore,

1
𝐸𝑘 = 𝑘𝑙 2 − 𝑚𝑔𝑙 sin 40°
2
2
𝑘= (𝐸 + 𝑚𝑔𝑙 sin 40°) = 2370𝑁/𝑚
𝑙2 𝑘
(If the students forget the highlighted term, deduct 3 marks)

3. Astronauts on a distant planet set up a simple pendulum of length 1.2 m. The pendulum executes
simple harmonic motion and makes 100 complete vibrations in 280 s. What is the magnitude
of the acceleration due to gravity on this planet?

4. A water skier is moving at a speed of 12.0 m/s. When she skis in the same direction as a
travelling wave, she springs upward every 0.600 s because of the wave crest. When she skis in
the direction opposite to the direction in which the water moves, she springs upward every
0.500 s in response to the crests. The speed of the skier is greater than the speed of the wave.
Determine (a) the speed and (b) the wavelength of the wave.
Solution: Suppose the speed of skier is vs, and the speed of wave is vw. Take the skier as the
reference system. Then when she skis in the same direction, the actual wave speed is

𝑣1 = 𝑣𝑠 − 𝑣𝑤

When she skis in the opposite direction, the actual wave speed is

𝑣2 = 𝑣𝑠 + 𝑣𝑤

The period of her is the time for her to springs up again. So

𝜆 𝜆
𝑇1 = = = 0.600s
𝑣1 𝑣𝑠 − 𝑣𝑤
𝜆 𝜆
𝑇2 = = = 0.500s
𝑣2 𝑣𝑠 + 𝑣𝑤

By the two equations above, it can be solved that

𝑣𝑠
𝑣𝑤 = = 1.09𝑚/𝑠; 𝜆 = 6.55𝑚;
11

5. As a prank, someone drops a water-filled balloon out of a window. The balloon is released from
rest at a height of 15.0 m above the ears of a man who is the target. Then, because of a guilty
conscience, the prankster shouts a warning after the balloon is released. The warning will do
no good, however, if shouted after the balloon reaches a certain point, even if the man could
react infinitely quickly. Assuming that the air temperature is 20℃ and ignoring the effect of air
resistance on the balloon, determine how far above the man's ears this point is.

Solution: The time for the ball to drop on the man’s head:

2ℎ 2 × 15.0𝑚
𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙 = √ =√ = 1.73𝑠
𝑔 10𝑚/𝑠 2

The time for the sound to reach the man:

ℎ 15.0𝑚
𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = = = 0.0437𝑠
𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 343𝑚/𝑠

If the prank shouts when the ball is at the certain point, sound and the ball should reach the man
at the same time. It means that when the prank shouts, the ball has traveled by the time

∆𝑡 = 𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙 − 𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = 1.69𝑠

Therefore, when the prank shouts, the ball has traveled a distance of

1
ℎ0 = 𝑔∆𝑡 2 = 14.25𝑚
2
So the distance between the certain point and the man’s ear is
 ∆ℎ = ℎ − ℎ0 = 0.75𝑚

6. A rocket, starting from rest, travels straight up with an acceleration of 61.0 m/s 2. When the
rocket is at a height of 625 m, it produces sound that eventually reaches a ground-based
monitoring station directly below. The sound is emitted uniformly in all directions. The
monitoring station measures a sound intensity I. Later, the station measures an intensity 1/3 I.
There are no reflections. Assuming that the speed of sound is 343 m/s, find the time that has
elapsed between the two measurements

Solution: It is known that the intensity is inverse proportional to the square of distance. Suppose
the distance of the rocket to the ground is r1 and r2 when receiving the intensity of I and 1/3 I. Then:

1
3 𝐼 = 𝑟1
2

𝐼 𝑟2 2

𝑟2 = √3𝑟1 2 = √3 × (625𝑚)2 = 1083𝑚

The times for the rocket to reach r1 and r2 are:

2𝑟1 2 × 625𝑚
𝑡1 = √ =√ = 4.53𝑠
𝑎 61𝑚/𝑠 2

2𝑟2 2 × 1083𝑚
𝑡2 = √ =√ = 5.96𝑠
𝑎 61𝑚/𝑠 2

However, it also takes different time at r1 and r2 for the sound to travel to the receiver. Therefore
the time elapsed between the two measurements is:
𝑟2 𝑟1
∆𝑡 = (𝑡2 − 𝑡1 ) + ( − ) = 2.77𝑠
𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑

(If students forget the highlighted term, deduct 3 marks)

7. When one person shouts at a football game, the sound intensity level at the center of the field
is 60.0 dB. When all the people shout together the intensity level increases to 96.5 dB.
Assuming that each person generates the same sound intensity at the center of the field, how
many people are at the game?

Solution: Suppose the intensity of sound generated by one person to the game is I. The number of
people is n. Then
𝐼
𝛽1 = 10 log = 60.0𝑑𝐵
𝐼0
 𝑛𝐼 𝐼
𝛽2 = 10 log = 10 (log + log 𝑛) = 𝛽1 + 10 log 𝑛 = 96.5𝑑𝐵
𝐼0 𝐼0
96.5𝑑𝐵 − 60.0𝑑𝐵
log 𝑛 = = 3.65
10
So 𝑛 = 103.65 = 4467

8. A typhoon with a wind speed of 20 m/s is blowing on your face and caused your injury. You
can see an ambulance is travelling towards you at a speed of 30 m/s. The siren on an ambulance
is emitting a sound whose frequency is 10000 Hz. The speed of sound is 343 m/s. Find the
wavelength and frequency of the sound you hear.

Solution: Take the air as the reference system. Since the air is moving at the speed of 20 m/s, the
velocity of observer and sound source can be calculated as:

𝑣𝑜𝑏𝑠 = 20𝑚/𝑠

𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 = 30𝑚/𝑠 − 20𝑚/𝑠 = 10𝑚/𝑠

By the formula of Doppler Effect, the new sound frequency is

𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 + 𝑣𝑜𝑏𝑠 343𝑚/𝑠 + 20𝑚/𝑠
𝑓′ = 𝑓 = 10000𝐻𝑧 = 10900𝐻𝑧
𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 − 𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 343𝑚/𝑠 − 10𝑚/𝑠
The wave length of the sound is then:
𝑣𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 343𝑚/𝑠
𝜆= = = 0.0315𝑚
𝑓′ 10900𝐻𝑧

(If students do not consider wind speed, deduct 6 marks)

9. A positively charged object with a mass of 0.250 kg oscillates at the end of a spring, generating
ELF (extremely low frequency) radio waves that have a wavelength of 2.20 x 107 m. The
frequency of these radio waves is the same as the frequency at which the object oscillates. What
is the spring constant of the spring?

Solution: The frequency of the radio wave can be calculated by:

𝑣 3.0 × 108 𝑚/𝑠

𝑓= = = 13.6𝐻𝑧
𝜆 2.20 × 107 𝑚
The frequency of the radio wave should be the same as the frequency of object oscillation. So
the period of the object
1 𝑚
𝑇= = 0.0733𝑠 = 2π√
𝑓 𝑘
So the spring constant of the spring can be solved as:
 4𝜋 2 𝑚 4 × (3.14)2 × 0.250𝑘𝑔
𝑘= = = 1835𝑁/𝑚
𝑇2 (0.0733𝑠)2

10. A heat lamp emits infrared radiation whose rms (root mean square) electric field is Erms = 2800
N/C.

(a) What is the average intensity of the radiation?

(b) The radiation is focused on a person’s leg over a circular area of radius 4.0 cm. What is the
average power delivered to the leg?

(c) The portion of the leg being irradiated has a mass of 0.28 kg and a specific heat capacity of
3500J/(kg•℃). How long does it take to raise its temperature by 2.0℃? Assume that there is
no other heat transfer into or out of the portion of the leg being heated.

Solution: (a) The average intensity of the radiation can be calculated by

𝐼 = 𝜀0 𝑐𝐸𝑟𝑚𝑠 2 = 8.854 × 10−12 𝐹/𝑚 × 3.0 × 108 𝑚/𝑠 × (2800𝑁/𝐶)2 = 20825𝑊/𝑚2

(b) The average power can be calculated by

𝑃 = 𝐼𝐴 = 2082𝑊/𝑚2 × 3.14 × (0.04𝑚)2 = 105𝑊

(c) The heat required to heat this leg can be calculated by

𝑄 = 𝐶𝑚∆𝑇 = 𝑃𝑡

So the time required to heat the leg is:

𝐶𝑚∆𝑇 3500𝐽/(𝑘𝑔℃) × 0.28𝑘𝑔 × 2.0℃

𝑡= = = 18.7s
𝑃 105𝑊
(If students take a half of this value and have other calculations correct, only deduct 2 marks)

11. The drawing shows two plane mirrors that intersect at an angle of 50°. An incident light ray
reflects from one mirror and then the other. What is the angle θ between the incident and
outgoing ray?
SOLUTION We can see in the drawing
that  +  = 180 , and solving for  Incident
ray

we find that 


 = 180 −  (1)  Outgoing
   ray
50° 
Since the sum of the interior angles
of a triangle is 180º, we can see in
the drawing that
2 + 2  +  = 180 , and solving for

ϕ, we find that

 = 180 − 2 ( +  ) (2)

Substituting Equation (2) into Equation (1) gives

 = 180 −  = 180 − 180 − 2 ( +  )  = 2 ( +  ) (3)

To determine the quantity  +  in Equation (3), we refer to the triangle formed by the

intersection of the mirrors and the first reflected ray. For this triangle we know that

50 +  +  = 180 (4)

In the drawing, the normal to the mirror that the incident ray strikes is the dashed line and
makes a 90°angle with that mirror. Therefore, we know that  = 90 −  . Using the same

reasoning for the normal to the other mirror, we can also conclude that  = 90 −  .

Substituting these expressions into Equation (4) gives

50 + ( 90 −  ) + ( 90 −  ) = 180 or  +  = 50

 

Substituting this value for  +  into Equation (3) gives

  = 2 ( +  ) = 2 ( 50 ) = 100

12. A spacecraft is in a circular orbit about the moon, 1.75 x 105 m above its surface. The speed of
the spacecraft is 1850 m/s, and the radius of the moon is 1.74 x 106 m. If the moon were a
smooth, reflective sphere, (a) how far below the moon’s surface would the image of the
spacecraft appear, and (b) what would be the apparent speed of the spacecraft’s image?

SOLUTION

1
di
a. Solving Equation 25.3 for and then taking the reciprocal of both sides, we obtain

1 1 1 do − f do f
= − = or di =
di f do do f do − f
(4)

Substituting Equation 25.2 into Equation (4), we find that

di =
do f
=
(
d o − 12 R ) =
− 12 d o R
=
( )(
− 12 1.75  105 m 1.74 106 m ) = −1.46 105 m
do − f (
d o − − 12 R ) d o + 12 R 1.75 105 m + 12 (1.74 106 m )

Therefore, the image of the spacecraft would appear 1.46 10 m below the surface of the
5

moon.

vo
b. Solving the first of Equations (1) for  yields  = . Substituting this result into the
ro

second of Equations (2), we find that

v   r 
vi = ri = ri  o  =  i  vo (5)
r  r 
 o  o
 Substituting Equations (2) and (3) into Equation (5) yields

 ri   R + di 
vi =   vo =  v =
(
1.74  106 m + −1.46  105 m )  (1850 m/s ) = 1540 m/s
r   R + d  o  1.74 106 m + 1.75 105 m 
 o  o
 

13. An object is placed 12.0 cm to the left of a diverging lens with a focal length of 8.00 cm. A
concave mirror with a focal length of 6.00 cm is placed 30.0 cm to the right of the lens. (a) Find
the final image distance, measured relative to the mirror. (b) Is the final image real or virtual?
(c) Is the final image upright or inverted with respect to original object?

SOLUTION

a. The image distance from the diverging lens can be determined as follows:

1 1 1 1 1
= − = − or di = −4.80 cm
di f d o −8.00 cm 12.0 cm

The image produced by the lens is 4.80 cm to the left of the lens. The distance between this
image and the concave mirror is 4.80 cm + 30.0 cm = 34.8 cm. The mirror equation [Equation
25.3: (1/ do ) + (1/ di ) = (1/ f ) ] gives the image distance from the mirror:

1 1 1 1 1
= − = − or di = 7.25 cm
di f d o 6.0 cm 34.8 cm

b. The image is real , because di is a positive number, indicating that the final image lies

to the left of the concave mirror.

c. The image is inverted , because a diverging lens always produces an upright image,

and the concave mirror produces an inverted image when the object distance is greater than the
focal length of the mirror.