Introduction

In physics, simple harmonic motion (SHM) is a periodic motion that is neither driven nor
damped. An object in simple harmonic motion experiences a net force which obeys
Hooke's law; that is, the force is directly proportional to the displacement from the
equilibrium position and acts in the opposite direction of the displacement.
A simple harmonic oscillator is a system which undergoes simple harmonic motion. The
oscillator oscillates about an equilibrium position (or mean position) between two
extreme positions of maximum displacement in a periodic manner. Mathematically, the
motion of the oscillator can be described by means of a sinusoidal function such that the
displacement x from the equilibrium position is given by:

where A is the amplitude, is the angular frequency such that = 2f where f is the
frequency in units of hertz, and is the phase which is the elapsed fraction of wave cycle
in radians.
The angular frequency of the motion is determined by the intrinsic properties of the
system (often the mass of the object and the force constant), while the amplitude and
phase are determined by the initial conditions (displacement and velocity) of the system.
The kinetic and potential energies of the system are in turn determined by both intrinsic
properties and initial conditions.
Simple harmonic motion. In this moving graph, the vertical axis represents the coordinate
of the particle (x in the equation), and the horizontal axis represents time (t).
Simple harmonic motion can serve as a mathematical model of a variety of motions, such
as the oscillation of a spring. Additionally, other phenomena can be approximated by
simple harmonic motion, including the motion of a simple pendulum and molecular
vibration.

Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with larger amplitude at
some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies.
At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude
oscillations, because the system stores vibrational energy.
Resonances occur when a system is able to store and easily transfer energy between two
or more different storage modes (such as kinetic energy and potential energy in the case
of a pendulum). However, there are some losses from cycle to cycle, called damping.
When damping is small, the resonant frequency is approximately equal to a natural
frequency of the system, which is a frequency of unforced vibrations. Some systems have
multiple, distinct, resonant frequencies.
Resonant systems can be used to generate vibrations of a specific frequency (e.g.
musical instruments), or pick out specific frequencies from a complex vibration
containing many frequencies.
Resonance was recognized by Galileo Galilei with his investigations of pendulums and
musical strings

Abstract
Pendulums move by constantly changing energy from one form to another. Because of
this, they are great demonstrators of the conservation of energythe idea that energy
doesnt just appear or disappear; it always comes from (or goes) somewhere.

The reason pendulums dont move forever is because eventually, all the energy ends up
transferred to the surrounding environment. But what if you could capture some of that
lost energy? This fun demonstration does just that: youll use a pendulum to move energy
from one place to another. Although, energy is transferred to all the pendulums,the
pendulum which has same natural frequency as the pendulum which is released from the
hanging string midpoint tend to vibrate at its resonant with larger amplitude.In order to
have a pendulum with same frequency,the length of the thread should be the
same.Pendulum with different length of thread has different frequency value.

Problem: Use four pendulums to observe

energy being moved around within a
system.
Materials
Several feet of string
Scissors
Weights that can be tied to the string (e.g. heavy washers or nuts)
Procedure
1. Cut a length of string several feet long (roughly 4 to 5 feet). Attach both ends to the
ceiling or the underside of a tableany place that will allow the loop of string to dangle
freely. Tie the ends far enough part so most of the slack is taken out of the string, and
identify the midpoint of the string.
2. Cut two more equal lengths of string, each about a foot long. Tie a weight to one end of
each string. Tie each loose end to the long, hanging string 6 inches away from the
hanging strings midpoint.
3. Steady the weights so that everything is still. Take one of the weights and pull it
several inches towards you, away from the long string, and then gently let it go.

4. As the weight swings back and forth, watch the other weight. What do you notice?
Does the second weight move? Does its motion change over time? How does the motion
relate to the first weight? What happens to the first weights motion?
5. Simply observe the motion of the weights for a couple of minutes. Describe what you
see.
6)Repeat the experiment above from steps 1 to 5 by adding another two pendulums with
different length of string
7) Observe the motions of the weights again and describe what you see.

Discussion
This experiment shows energy being transferred back and forth between the pendulums.
When you pull the first pendulum towards you, you put potential energy into the system:
energy that is stored away but not actually doing anything yet.
As soon as you release, the potential energy rapidly starts converting to kinetic energy
the energy of motionas gravity pulls the weight in an arc. At the bottom of the swing,
all the potential energy is gone; the pendulums energy is entirely kinetic. Then, as the
pendulum starts to climb again, the kinetic energy starts transforming back into potential
energy until it has climbed as far as it can go.
The energy keeps sloshing back and forth like that on every swing: potential turns to
kinetic which turns back to potential, over and over. Pendulums, like all simple harmonic
oscillators, are great demonstrators of the conservation of energy: the idea that energy
cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. The energy you end up with has to equal

the energy you start with. But if thats true, how does the second pendulum start moving?
Where does its energy come from?
Easy: it comes from the first pendulum. During every swing, a little bit of energy is
transferred into the long string the two pendulums dangle from. Start the pendulum
swinging again. This time, watch the longest string: it moves! As the pendulum oscillates,
it tugs on the string. The string, in turn, tugs on the second pendulum.
A tiny fraction of the first pendulums kinetic energy goes through the string and
displaces the pivot of the second pendulum, causing the second pendulum to swing and
with every swing, a little more energy gets transferred from one pendulum to the other.
Eventually, the first pendulum has no more energy to give to the second pendulum.
When this happens, the first pendulum stops, while the second pendulum swings away
but now, the second pendulum pulls on the string. The energy starts working its way back
to the first pendulum until eventually, the balance of energy is right back to where it
started. This cant continue forever. With every swing, energy is also lost to pushing the
air out of the way or vibrating whatever the main string is attached to. No system is
perfect. Eventually, all the energy you provided is lost to the environment and both
pendulums will stop swinging. For experiment 2 with four pendulums,two of the
pendulum with different length shows that an oscillator can be forced to vibrate with
increasing amplitude; to do this; energy must be supplied in the right way. So the energy
input system must be tuned to the oscillator, or the oscillator must be able to be tuned to

the available energy input. Matching up the natural frequency and the forcing frequency
results in a resonant system .

Conclusion
1) Principle of conservation of energy applied in the movement of a pendulum which
is known as simple harmonic motion. Energy is transferred one pendulum to
another pendulum.
2) Pendulum with same length tends to have same natural frequency and will vibrate
at resonant with maximun amplitude