Oscillations - mcq

Oscillations MCQ

Simple Harmonic Motion

Question H1: Why study this stuff?

Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is a technical term used to
describe a certain kind of idealised oscillation. Practically all
the
oscillations that one can see directly in the natural world are much more
complicated than SHM. Why then do
physicists make such a big deal out of
studying SHM?
A:      It is the only
kind of oscillation that can be described mathematically.
B*:    Any real
oscillation can be analysed as a superposition (sum or integral) of SHMs with
different frequencies.
C:      Physics is
concerned mainly with the unnatural world.
D:      Students are too
stupid to appreciate the real world.
E:       It is good
torture for students.
Feedback:
You should be able to get answer B because it is meant to
look like the only sensible statement on the list. However the
question itself
is not so silly. If you understand SHM you have progressed a long way towards
understanding all kinds
of oscillations. This is one of the typical things
about physics that make physicists think that it is an easy subject; if you
understand simple idealised things like SHM then you understand a helluva lot.

Question H2:
Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is a technical term used to
describe a certain kind of idealised oscillation.
A simple harmonic oscillation has
A*:    fixed frequency
and fixed amplitude.
B:      fixed frequency
and variable amplitude.
C:      variable
frequency and fixed amplitude.
D:      variable
frequency and variable amplitude.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
In the idealised world where one can talk about a simple
harmonic motion, the SHM goes on repeating itself exactly
forever. Since it
takes only one value of frequency to specify the motion, that frequency must be
unchanged. Also, in the
idealised world, since the motion repeats itself
exactly the amplitude must also be constant. Mathematically SHM can be
described by a sine function multiplied by a constant (the amplitude). The sine
function is one of those functions which
repeats indefinitely; cosine will do
just as well.

Question H3:
A simple harmonic oscillation of a given system can be
specified completely by stating its
A*:    amplitude,
frequency and initial phase.
B:      amplitude,
frequency and wavelength.
C:      frequency and
wavelength.
D:      frequency,
wavelength and initial phase.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
This follows from the previous question and answer. Two SHMs
with the same amplitude and frequency could differ by
being out of step with
each other.  The other alternatives can
be ruled out because they all mention wavelength, a
concept which has no
meaning in relation to a single oscillation.
 

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Question H4:
We can't get very far in talking about SHM without doing a
little mathematics, so it its important to be able to recognise
some equations
which can represent SHM.
In the equations below, A,
B,
w
and f are constants; y and t are variables; t represents time. Only one of the
following equations does not represent SHM. Which one is that?
A:     
B:     
C:     
D:     
E*:    
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
The graphs of the first four equations all have the same
shape and frequency; they differ only in their initial phases. The
last
equation has terms with two different frequencies, one of which is double the other,
so it cannot be SHM. It is the
sum of two different SHMs.
 

Question H5: Trivia about names

This is just a question about names.  This equation represents a SHM: 
.
Which part of the expression on the right hand side is called the
phase?
A:     
B:     
C*:   
D:     
E:      
Feedback:
There is not much argument behind trivia questions. The
answers are usually just matters of definition or convention. 
Some people might pick answer D, f.  The name for that is phase constant, or more meaningfully,  initial phase,
meaning
the value of the phase when the time variable is zero. It is part of the
expression for phase.
Extra:
The alternative name of "phase angle" for f,  suggested by Halliday, Resnick
& Walker (edition 5, page 374) is silly;
since   f  is no more or less an "angle" than wt is an angle. Referring to phase as an angle is potentially misleading
because it seems to suggest that phase is related to directions in space or angles between lines whereas it is really just a
dimensionless variable (with no units) that is the argument of the sin or cos function. It is not necessary, therefore to
gratuitously add the unit radian to values of phase. The habit of calling it an angle seems to derive from the practice of
drawing diagrams of a rotating radius as an aid to calculation of
phase. Similarly, the unit of angular frequency is really
the reciprocal
second, not radian per second.
 
 

Question H7:
Here is a displacement-time graph of an object moving with
simple harmonic motion. What is the frequency of the
SHM?
 
 

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A*:    0.40 Hz
B:      1.25 Hz
C:      2.50 Hz
D:      5.00 Hz
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
To find the frequency we first need to find the period. To do
that look for a number of complete oscillations on the
graph. The first peak
occurs at 0.25 s and the third peak occurs at 5.25 s. That's two complete
oscillations in 5.0 s. So the
period is 2.5 s. The frequency is the reciprocal
of that: 0.40 s-1 or 0.40 Hz.
Extra:
To get the best possible precision when reading from a graph
like this, make the reading as large as conveniently
possible. That's why the
answer was worked out using two oscillations rather than one.
 

Question H8:
Here is the same graph again.
 

 
What is the amplitude of this motion?

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A:      4.0 cm.

B:      5.0 cm.
C:      8.0 cm.
D:      10.0 cm
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
The amplitude is the magnitude of the biggest displacement
from the mid-point or equilibrium position. 
Extra:
An alternative way of describing how big the oscillation is
would be to quote the value of the difference between the
extreme points, 10.0
cm; the name sometimes given to that value is peak-to-peak amplitude.

Question H9:
Here is a displacement-time graph of an object which is not moving with simple harmonic motion.
But it is still an
oscillation and it has a period.
 

 
Estimate that period.
A:      0.25 s.
B:      0.3 s.
C:      0.5 s.
D:      0.7 s
E:       1.0 s.
F*:     2.0 s
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
The period of any oscillation is the time interval required
for one complete cycle of the whole pattern. Looking at this
graph, the big
positive peak occurs at 1.5 s, 3.5 s and 5.5 s with an exact copy of the
pattern in between those peaks. The
pattern takes 2.0 s to repeat.
Extra:
There is clearly a subsidiary oscillation. In fact the graph
was generated by adding two SHMs with periods of 2.00 s and
0.67 s. If you
picked answer D, you were probably looking at the second of these two.

Question H10: Definition of SHM

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It is possible to tell theoretically if a mechanical motion

will be SHM through a careful analysis of the forces in the
system. An object
will execute SHM with displacement coordinate x.
A:      all the forces
involving x  are conservative.
B*:    the total force
can be equated with -kx.
C:      all the forces
involving x  have equal and opposite reactions.
D:      the sum of all
the forces involving x is zero.
E:       the total force
on the object is always zero.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
Answer B is often used as a definition of SHM. Texts which do
it that way then derive the equations involving sin or
cos functions as solutions
of the equation of motion.
Extra:
Answer A is a necessary condition but it is not sufficient.
If condition B is met then A should follow. Answer C is true
of all systems of
forces - it is too general. Answer E leads to motion with constant velocity.
 
 

Mechanical vibrations

Question M1:
Consider a thingy hanging from a spring. The system is set
vibrating by pulling the thingy down below its equilibrium
position and then
letting it go from rest.
 

 
The frequency of the oscillation is determined by
A:      the amount of
the initial displacement
B*:    the mass of the
thingy and the properties of the spring
C:      the local
gravitational field, g
D:      all of the
above.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
The period and frequency of mechanical system depend only on
the mechanical and elastic properties of the system. We
can be even more
specific and say that the period is determined by two properties of the system:
inertia (mass) and

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elasticity. The relevant elastic property here is the spring

constant (k) which expresses the connection
between restoring
force and displacement. The mass characterises the thing that
is being acted upon by the force. 
Whether the oscillation
is big or small depends on how the system is
treated, not on its innate properties, which excludes answer A. And the
gravitational field (answer D) is a property of the environment, not the system
itself.

Question M2:
This is the same situation: a thingy oscillating on the end
of a spring. The system is set vibrating by pulling the thingy
down below its
equilibrium position and then letting it go from rest.
 

 
The amplitude of the oscillation is determined by
A*:    the amount of the
initial displacement.
B:      the mass of the
thingy and the properties of the spring
C:      the local
gravitational field, g.
D:      all of the above.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:

Question M3:
We are still looking at the oscillating thingy hanging from a
spring. The system was set vibrating by pulling the thingy
down below its
equilibrium position and then letting it go from rest.
 

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If the initial displacement is doubled what happens to the maximum

kinetic energy of the thingy?
A:      It is unchanged.
B:      It is doubled.
C*:    It is increased
by a factor of 4.
D:      We can't tell
from the information provided.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
Maximum kinetic energy (KE) occurs when the thingy's speed is
greatest and is proportional to the square of that speed.
The maximum speed,
which occurs at the equilibrium point of the motion, is given by Aw,  where A is amplitude and w 
is the angular frequency of the motion.
Since w
does not depend on the initial displacement, its is a constant for a given
system and doubling A results in
a doubling of the maximum speed, so the 
maximum KE goes up 4 times.
 

Question M4:  Two

things on springs
In their discussions of SHM text books sometimes consider a
thingy attached to a horizontal spring and moving
horizontally on a
frictionless surface, instead of the hanging thingy that we have been looking
at.

 
Suppose that the two springs and the two thingies are
identical. Think about whether these two systems are significantly
different in
other respects and decide which one of the following statements is true.
A:      The systems have
different periods because their motions are aligned differently with the
gravitational field.
B:      The hanging
system has a slightly smaller period because the weight of the spring has to be
accounted for.
C:      The hanging
system has a slightly larger period because the weight of the spring has to be
accounted for.
D*:    The two systems
have identical periods, no matter what the weight of the spring is.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
Neither the weight nor the mass of the spring makes a
difference to the comparison.  Although
the mass of the spring
does make a difference and should be included in the
analysis, its effect is the same in both cases.  Remember that in
mechanical SHM only the mass and elastic
properties of the system matter. Gravity is irrelevant.
Extra:
In case you want to know, to correct for the mass of the
spring add about a third of its value to that of the thingy.  Can
you think of a reason why the fraction
of the spring's mass added must less than one?

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Question M4: Simple pendulum

An object swinging on the end of a string forms a simple
pendulum. Some students (and some texts) often cite the
simple pendulum's
motion as an example of SHM. That is not quite accurate because the motion is
really
A*:    approximately SHM
only for small amplitudes.
B:      exactly SHM only
for amplitudes that are smaller than a certain value.
C:      approximately
SHM for all amplitudes.
?:       Don't know.
Feedback:
Anything that is an approximation can't be exact. Even for
small amplitudes, SHM is only an approximate model of the
real motion. For
large amplitudes, the approximation is so rough that one does not use it. The
thingy on the springy is a
much better approximation to SHM.
Extra:
Another reason to be suspicious that pendulum motion is not
truly SHM is the general rule about mechanical SHM
which says that the period
depends on two properties of the system: inertia (mass) and elasticity. The
formula for the
period of a pendulum contains neither of those factors!
 

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