Physics 300 Lab 1 Justin Thomas Forced, Damped Harmonic Oscillation February 11, 2013 Introduction The purpose

of this experiment is to study the resonant properties of a driven, damped harmonic oscillator. A mirror is mounted on the end of a flat piece of springy steel and set into vibration A beam of laser light is bounced off the mirror onto the wall, and when the mirror moves, so does the light spot on the wall. When the mirror vibrates, the light spot does also, and its motion provides information about the position of the mirror. It appears as a continuous line if the vibration frequency is high enough. The first objective is to observe the exponential decay of a damped oscillator in free vibration. We use a sheet of flat steel that experiences a force trying to straighten it when it is bent. Since this force proportional to the amount of bending, it acts like a linear spring. When the sheet is not being driven it is in free oscillation and is damped. Our next objective is to measure the resonance frequency of the steel sheet. Which is done by vary the frequency until the amplitude of oscillation reaches a maximum. This amplitude can be seen and measured as the amplitude of the laser vibration. Our third objective is to see how placing a paper clip on different parts of the sheet of steel affects is vibration and amplitude. We will measure the amplitude for various positions on the paper clip. Procedure 1) We set up the grid about 32 inches away from the oscillator to capture the lasers vibration. 2) The point where the laser is was the center point and when the metal sheet was vibrating amplitude was measured as the max distance the laser would reach away from the center point. 3) Our data for Part 1 was taken by oscillating the metal sheet in free vibration by starting the initial displacement and taking measurements of the amplitude over time. This was repeated for two trials. 4) Our data for Part 2 was taking by turning on the forced oscillation motor and changing the frequency and recording the amplitudes. 5) We knew when we reached the resonance frequency when we saw a sharp increase in amplitude. We measured a few frequencies past the resonance frecuency as well to ensure we get the correct bell curve pattern. 6) Our data for part 3 was taken by taking a paperclip and placing it on various parts of the metal sheet and recording how it affected the amplitude of oscillation at the resonance frequency.

Data Part 1 Data taken from our observation of damping during free oscillation. Trial 1 Time(+/- Amplitude .5 secs) (cm)(+/-.01cm) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 4.45 3.1 2.3 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.9 Trial 2 Time (+/- .5 secs) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Amplitude (cm) (cm)(+/.01cm) 7.7 5.3 3.75 2.95 2.35 1.7 1.4 1.2 1 0.85

Part 2 To gather data for Part 2 we varied the frequency of the forced oscillation until we reached the resonance frequency which is indicated by a sharp increase in amplitude. f(Hz) 2066 2492 2577 2610 2664 2678 2703 2756 2858 A(cm) 0.4 1 1.9 4.9 8.9 5.1 2.6 1.4 0.8

Part 3 We put a paper clip on the oscillator and varied its distance (x) from the base. For each x we measured the amplitude. The Frequency was held constant at the resonance frequency of 2066 Hz +/- 2Hz. x(cm) 0 2.2 2.4 3.2 4.6 5.9 A(cm) (kept Increasing) off page 8.2 2.2 0.6 0.3

Analysis Part 1 Trial 1

Amplitude (cm) VS Time (s)

5 4 A(cm) 3 2 1 0 -2 0 2 4 6 8 TIme(s) 10 12 14 16 18 y = 3.7181e-0.095x R = 0.9682

Trial 2

Amplitude (cm) VS Time(s) 10

A(cm) y = 6.4874e-0.12x R = 0.9816 5

0 -5 0 5 TIme (s) 10 15 20

We see from both these graph that damping of an oscillator follows an exponential decay over time. This is in accordance with theoretical explanations of damping. Vertical error bars are included but not visible because amplitude was taken with very little error because measurements were taken to the millimeter. Part 2

Amplitude (cm) vs Frequency (Hz)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Frequency (Hz)

This graph show how by varying frequency of the forced oscillation we can achieve resonance. The graph depicts a (very rough) bell curve. This also follows theoretical expectations. It is evident that when we pass resonance frequency our amplitude drops back down. Error bars are also present on this graph but unable to be seen because the errors are too small in comparison to the scale of the measurements. Error in Amplitude is +/- .01cm and error in frequency is +/- 2Hz.

Amplitude (cm)