Simple Harmonic Motion (Cont.

)
Worksheet Solutions
Adrian Down
April 24, 2007
Problem 1
Part A
When the car is in equilibrium, the force from the four springs (one for each
wheel) balances the gravitational force,
F
g
= 4F
s
mg = 4kx
0
k =
mg
4x
0
Substituting the values given in the problem,
k 4.90 10
4
N m
1
Part B
The resonant frequency of the car is,

R
=
_
k
e
m
=
_
4k
m
=
_
4mg
4x
0

1
m
=
_
g
x
0
1
The period at resonance is thus,
T =
2

= 2
_
x
0
g
If the car is moving such that it hits the dumps at its resonant frequency, the
car moves a distance equal to that between two bumps during the resonant
period T,
v =
x
t
x = vT
x = 2v
_
x
0
g
Substituting the values given in the problem (remember to convert 100 km
hr
1
into 27.7 m s
1
),
x 12.5 m
Part C
The spring constant of a spring is inversely proportional to the number of
windings of the spring, all other things being equal. This determines all the
other proportionality relationships in the problem,
k
1
l
l

=
l
2
k

= 2k

2
T
1

=
T

2
x T x

=
x

2
x

= 4v
_
x
0
2g
2
Substituting the values given in the problem (remember to convert 100 km
hr
1
into 27.7 m s
1
),
x

17.6 m
Problem 2
Part A
The only force acting on the kitten is the force of gravity, which always acts
radially inwards towards the center of the Earth,
F
g
=
GMm
cat
r
2
Remember, though, that the cat doesnt feel any pull from mass that is
at a larger radius than the cat itself. The gravitational attraction inside any
spherical shell cancels out, and we can consider all of the mass outside of the
cat to be composed of thin spherical shells, so its only the mass at a distance
r less than the distance from the center of the Earth to the cat that actually
pulls on the cat.
Thus the mass M which appears in the expression for gravitational force
above is actually only the mass at a distance from the center of the Earth
less than that of the kitten,
M = M
inc
= V
inc
=
4
3
r
3
The density can be written in terms of the total mass and radius of the Earth,
M
E
and R
E
respectively,
=
M
E
V
E
=
M
E
4
3
R
3
E
The included mass is then,
M
inc
=
M
E
4
3
R
3
E

4
3
r
3
= M
E
_
r
R
E
_
3
3
The gravitational force on the kitten is,
F
g
=
GM
E
r
3
m
cat
r
2
=
GM
E
m
cat
R
3
E
r
The gravitational force in this instance has the form of a spring force, F =
kx, where k is the eective spring constant, and x is the distance from the
equilibrium point. Because the force takes the same force as the spring force,
and there are no other forces acting on the kitten, the dierential equations of
motion will be the same. In particular, the sinusoidal solutions characteristic
of simple harmonic motion will hold.
Part B
The eective spring constant is,
k =
GM
E
m
cat
R
3
E
Thus the angular frequency of the cat, being acted upon by this sort-of-spring
force, is,
=
_
k
m
cat
=

GM
e
R
3
E
The period is related to the angular frequency in the usual way,
T =
2

T = 2

R
3
E
GM
E
Substituting known astronomical values for the parameters,
T 5070 s 84.5 m 1.41 hr
4
Part C
Since the gravitational force is conservative, the total energy of the system
is constant. Initially, all of the energy is potential, but as the cat moves
through the center of the Earth, traveling at its maximum velocity, all of the
energy of the system is kinetic.
1
2
kx
2
0
=
1
2
mv
2
max

GM
E
m
cat
R
3
E
R
2
E
= m
cat
v
2
max
v
max
=
_
GM
E
R
E
Substituting known astronomical values for the parameters,
v
max
7910 m s
1
= 7.91 km s
1
(really fast!)
Problem 3
Equation of motion
Now I write the equation of motion for the ice block and walrus by applying
Newtons second law. The only forces acting on the system are gravity and
the buoyant force. The gravitational force is,
F
g
= 5mg
The buoyant force is equal to the weight of the water displaced by the system.
Let y be the distance the ice is poking out of the water. The buoyant force
is then,
F
b
= g
water
V
submerged
= gL
2
(L y)
(I use to refer to the density of the water, not the block).
Newtons second law is then,
5ma
y
= gL
2
(L y) 5mg
a
y
= g
_
L
3
5m
1
_

gL
2
5m
y
5
From the denition of acceleration,
a
y
=
d
2
y
dt
2
Also, the density can be written in terms of the other parameters in the
problem by considering the initial equilibrium condition. Before the walrus
falls on the ice, the ice is oating with y =
L
4
distance sticking out of the
water. In this state, the gravitational force on the ice and the buoyant force
are equal and opposite
4mg = gV
0
4m = L
2
_
L
L
2
_
=
1
2
L
3
= 8
m
L
3
Substituting this result into the equation of motion,
d
2
y
dt
2
= g
_
8
m
L
3

L
3
5m
1
_
g 8
m
L
3

L
2
5m
y
= g
_
8
5
1
_

8
5
g
L
y
=
3
5
g
8
5
g
L
y
Dierential equation
The technical mathematical way to solve a dierential equation like this,
which has a constant in it (in this case, 3g/155), is to consider the homoge-
neous, which is the same equation with the constant set equal to 0. Once
we solve the homogeneous case, we slap on a particular solution that satis-
es the equation with the constant included. There is a lot of dierential
equations theory that goes into this, and its a bit beyond the scope of this
problem. . . basically, what well get out of all of this is that we have a simple
harmonic oscillator with some initial oset (i.e. y isnt centered about 0,
which we already know since y = 0 corresponds to the entire block of ice
being submerged.
6
First, the homogeneous case,
d
2
y
dt
2
= 0
8
5
g
L
y
This is of the usual form for a simple harmonic oscillator. The angular
frequency of the oscillator is equal to the square root of the coecient of y,
y(t)
homogeneous
= Acos (t + ) =
_
8
5
g
L
where A and are constants, related to the amplitude and phase, respec-
tively, that have yet to be determined.
A good strategy for nding particular solutions (the ones that satisfy the
dierential equation as written), is to try constants and simple polynomials
that will become equal to 0 if dierentiated enough. Ill try that here. Ill
assume y is a constant, which Ill call y
p
, plug this guess into the dierential
equation and see if there is a possible solution. Since Im assuming y
p
is
constant, all of the derivative terms are equal to 0.
0 =
3
5
g
8
5
g
L
y
p
Were in luck, there are values of y
p
that will solve this equation,
8
5
g
L
y
p
=
3
5
g
8
L
y
p
= 3
y
p
=
3
8
L
The full solution is a sum of the particular and homogeneous solutions,
y(t) =
3
8
L + Acos (t + )
As mentioned above, the particular solution functions as an oset, so that
the block is not oscillating about y = 0.
7
Initial conditions
The last step in specifying our solution for y(t) is to determine the constants
A and . As with any dierential equation, the constants in the solution
have to be determined using some boundary conditions. We have two such
boundary conditions in this case, since we know what the ice and walrus are
doing at t = 0.
When the walrus just hits the block, the block is at its original equilibrium
height of L/2. Substituting into the equation for y(t),
y(t = 0) =
1
2
L =
3
8
L + Acos (0 + )
Acos =
1
8
L
We can also determine the initial velocity of the block and walrus using
conservation of momentum in the collision when the walrus hits the ice,
p
0,w
+ p
0,i
= p
f,w
+ p
f,i
mv
0
+ 0 = mv + 4mv
v =
v
0
5
Remember that this is only the magnitude of v. The ice is initially traveling
downwards, and it will be important to remember this negative sign when
we plug the boundary condition into the equation for v(t).
Now we need an equation for velocity to plug into. We can get this by
dierentiating our equation for position obtained above,
v(t) =
dy(t)
dt
= Asin (t + )
Substituting the boundary condition at t = 0,
v(t = 0) =
v
0
5
= Asin(0 + )
Asin =
v
0
5
Ill rst solve for , then for A. To nd , I divide the second equation
8
obtained above by the rst,
Asin
Acos
=
v
0
5

8
L
tan =
v
0
5

1
2
_
5
2
g
L

8
L
=
4
5
v
0
_
5
2
1
gL
= v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
Isolating the phase angle ,
= tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
_
With determined (albeit algebraically heinous), I can substitute into
either of the equations from the boundary conditions to determine A. Ill use
the one for y(0),
Acos =
1
8
L
A =
1
8
L
cos
_
tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
__
Just for kicks, lets take a look at the full expression for y(t),
y(t) =
g
5
_
_
3
8
L

1
8
L
cos
_
tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
__ cos
_
_
4
5
g
L
t + tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
_
_
_
_
Well, a few things cancel,
y(t) =
g
5
_
_
_
3
cos
__
4
5
g
L
t + tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
__
cos
_
tan
1
_
v
0
_
4
5
1
gL
__
_
_
_
Deeeelicious. . .
9
Problem 4
Part A.i
For simplicity, Ill assume that the pendulum is a simple point-like mass M
on the end of a massless string of length L. Ill consider the torque acting on
the pendulum that causes it to rotate about the pivot point.
The forces acting on the pendulum are the tension force and the gravi-
tational force. The tension force acts along the line from the pendulum to
the pivot point, and thus produces no torque about the rotation point. The
gravitational force does produce a torque,

g
= rF
g
sin = Lmg sin
The negative sign results because the torque due to gravity always acts to
return the pendulum to = 0, regardless of the side from which the pendulum
is started.
Using Newtons second law for rotation,
I =
net
The moment of inertia of the point mass is,
I = mL
2
The angular acceleration is dened to be,

d
2

dt
2
Thus the equation of motion is,
mL
2
d
2

dt
2
= Lmg sin
d
2

dt
2
=
g
L
sin
10
Part B.i
With the small angle approximation, the equation of motion becomes,
d
2

dt
2
=
g
L

This is the standard dierential equation for simple harmonic motion. The
solution is,
(t) =
max
cos(t + ) =
_
g
L
where
max
and A are determined by boundary conditions.
Part A.ii
Including the drag force causes a torque that must be included in Newtons
second law for rotation. The drag force acts opposite to the direction of
motion and acts only at the location of the mass, so the lever arm for the
force is L,

drag
= bv L
The equation of motion, employing the small angle approximation used
above, is,
mL
2
= bvL mgL
=
b
m
v
L

g
L

I write the linear velocity in terms of the angular velocity, v = L,

=
b
m

g
L

Expressing everything in terms of ,

d
2

dt
2
+
b
m
d
dt
+
g
L
= 0
11
Part B.ii
In the case of a damped oscillator, the solutions are generally an oscillating
cosine term multiplied by a decaying exponential. One way to capture both
of these behaviors is to employ complex exponentials. The imaginary term of
the exponential gives rise to oscillation, and the real component corresponds
to exponential decay.
Assuming exponential solutions for the form (t) = Ae
rt
and substituting
into the equation of motion,
r
2
Ae
rt
+
b
m
rAe
rt
+
g
L
Ae
rt
= 0
r
2
+
b
m
r +
g
L
= 0
This equation can be solved for r using the quadratic formula,
r =

b
m

_
b
2
m
2
4
g
L
2
=
b
2m
_
1
_
1 4
gm
2
b
2
L
_
The full solution has a component with each of these values of the expo-
nential. The coecients of these solutions would be determined by boundary
conditions, if given,
(t) = Ae
bt
2m

1+
q
14
gm
2
b
2
L

+ Be
bt
2m

1
q
14
gm
2
b
2
L

Part C.ii
As mentioned above, oscillations arise from complex exponentials. For the
exponential to be complex, the argument of the square root in r must be
negative,
1 4
gm
2
b
2
L
< 0
1 < 4
gm
2
b
2
L
L < 4
gm
2
b
2
12
The maximum value for L that gives rise to oscillations is thus,
L
max
= 4
gm
2
b
2
Part D.ii
The real part of the exponential determines how fast the oscillator comes to
rest. The square root may provide some component of the real part of the
exponential, but we know for sure that the real part will be somewhere sort of
close to b/2m, the prefactor of the exponential. Hence in a time t = b/2m,
the envelope of the oscillator will have fallen to e
1
of its original value. Tho
oscillator will never stop however, the amplitude of the oscillation just gets
less and less over time.
Problem 5
Part A
I use Newtons second law for rotation to consider rotation about the pivot
point of the board on the left. There is a torque on the board due to the
spring and another torque due to Doug,
I = lF
s
LF
g
= lk(y
0
y) Lmg
where y
0
is the initial compression of the spring that keeps Doug horizontal
in the absence of any perturbations. In equilibrium,

s,0
=
g
lky
0
= Lmg
i cancel these equilibrium terms from the equation of motion to obtain,
I = lky
The distance the spring is compressed y can be approximately related to
the angle between the board and the horizontal,
y = l sin l
13
The moment of inertia of the system is due only to Doug, since the board is
assumed to be massless,
I = mL
2
The equation of motion is thus,
mL
2
d
2

dt
2
= l
2
k

d
2

dt
2
=
k
m
l
2
L
2

This is the usual equation of motion for a simple harmonic oscillator, with
angular frequency,
=
_
k
m
l
2
L
2
=
l
L
_
k
m
Thus the angular position of the rod as a function of time is,
(t) =
0
cos (t + )
Dougs actual vertical position is approximately related to , in the small
angle approximation,
y = Lsin L
Hence Dougs height as a function of time is,
y(t) = L
0
cos (t + )
We can also nd the initial displacement. If Doug moves by a distance d
(remember, hes moving downwards), the distance the spring is compressed
can be found using the arc length formula,
L
0
= d
0
=
d
L
The equation of motion is,
y(t) = L
d
L
cos (t + )
= d cos(t + )
14
Initially, at t = 0, the board is displaced by a distance y = d, i.e. to its
maximum value. Since cos(0) = 1 is maximized, the phase angle must be 0
(think of graphing the vertical position of the board; it starts at is minimum,
like a negative cosine graph at t = 0).
The full equation of motion is,
y(t) = d cos
_
l
L
_
k
m
t
_
15