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Further Mechanics

Radian is defined as the arc length divided by the radius of a circle. Angular speed is the rate at which an object rotates and is measured in radians per second. Centripetal force is a force directed toward the center of an object's circular path that allows circular motion by providing an inward acceleration. Simple harmonic motion describes the periodic back-and-forth oscillatory motion where the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from the equilibrium position and acts to push the object back to equilibrium. The amplitude is the maximum displacement from the equilibrium position during oscillation.

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84 views

Further Mechanics

Radian is defined as the arc length divided by the radius of a circle. Angular speed is the rate at which an object rotates and is measured in radians per second. Centripetal force is a force directed toward the center of an object's circular path that allows circular motion by providing an inward acceleration. Simple harmonic motion describes the periodic back-and-forth oscillatory motion where the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from the equilibrium position and acts to push the object back to equilibrium. The amplitude is the maximum displacement from the equilibrium position during oscillation.

Uploaded by

Cris Tumuruk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Further Mechanics

RADIAN – The angle that is equal to the arc length divided by the radius of the circle.

One complete circle has an angle of 2π radians. So 2π = 360


𝜗 𝑣
ANGULAR SPEED – The angle an object rotates through per second. 𝜔 = = = 2𝜋𝑓
𝑡 𝑟

FREQUENCY – The number of complete revolutions per second

PERIOD – Time taken for a complete revolution in seconds.

The velocity of an object travelling in a circle has a constantly changing velocity. This means that there is an
acceleration, as acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity. The centripetal acceleration is always
𝑣2
directed towards the centre of the circle. 𝑎 = = 𝜔2 𝑟
𝑟

As an object travelling in a circle has an acceleration, there must be a force that allows this acceleration to occur.
This is called centripetal force and also acts towards the centre of the circle. 𝐹 = 𝑚𝜔2 𝑟

The equilibrium position of a simple harmonic motion is the midpoint of an objects motion. The distance from this
position is known as displacement. There is a restoring force that always pulls an object back to the equilibrium
position, the size of this force depends on the displacement of the object from its equilibrium position.

The conditions for simple harmonic motion are:

- Acceleration is directly proportional to an objects displacement from its equilibrium position


- Acceleration is always directed towards the equilibrium position.

The following graphs describe simple harmonic motion.

The velocity is π/2 radians out of phase with the displacement, the acceleration has the same relationship with the
velocity.

AMPLITUDE – Maximum magnitude of displacement of an oscillation.

As an object oscillates, it exchanges potential and kinetic energy. Pendulums convert


between kinetic and gravitational potential energy. Mass spring systems convert between

elastic, gravitational potential and kinetic energy. The sum of these


energies is called the mechanical energy of the system.

𝑥 = 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜔𝑡) 𝑎 = −𝜔2 𝑥 𝑣 = ±√𝐴2 − 𝑥 2


To find maximum acceleration, just replace x with A.

The restoring force in a mass spring system is equal to F = KL


The direction in which the forces act in a simple pendulum are shown by the diagram.

Free vibrations do not involve the transfer of energy to or from the surroundings, the object will oscillate at its
resonant/natural frequency. Forced vibrations occur when there is a periodic external driving force. The frequency of
this oscillation is the driving frequency and is much less than the natural frequency.

If the driving frequency is less than the natural frequency, they oscillate in phase. If it is much greater, the two are in
antiphase. If the system is resonating, the oscillator will have a phase difference of 900. The amplitude of oscillation
increases by lots as you approach the resonant frequency of the oscillator.

Damping forces are those that reduce the energy in an oscillating system by making it lose energy to the
surroundings.

Type of damping How long it takes to stop oscillating Graph


Light Many time periods

Heavy Few time periods, amplitude gets


much smaller each period

Over Stop oscillating over 1 time period


but take longer to return to
equilibrium

Critical Amplitude of oscillation is reduced


to zero in the shortest possible
time.

Plastic deformation of ductile materials can also reduce the amplitude of oscillation. When a material changes
shape, energy is absorbed in order for the change in shape to occur, less energy is used to make the object oscillate
so the amplitude of oscillation decreases.

The amplitude of resonance of an oscillating object decreases the more heavily a


system is damped, this is shown by the amplitude – frequency graph.

Damping systems can be used to absorb shock in a cars suspension, it can also be
used to avoid resonance in buildings to stop them from being damaged in
earthquakes. Bridges can resonate in high winds so it is important that they are
damped effectively.

Damping forces act in the opposite direction to the velocity of the object that is oscillating. They are forces that
oppose motion.

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