Simple Harmonic Oscillations
- Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is defined as follows:
The motion of an object whose acceleration is directly proportional but opposite in direction to the object's displacement from a central equilibrium position
- An object is said to perform simple harmonic oscillations when all of the following apply:
- The oscillations are isochronous
- There is a central equilibrium point
- The object's displacement, velocity and acceleration change continuously
- There is a restoring force always directed towards the equilibrium point
- The magnitude of the restoring force is proportional to the displacement