I have trouble visualizing simple harmonic motion, and remembering all the related equations. How should I think about it?

The key is to realize that displacement, velocity and acceleration all vary sinusoidally, with the graph of each being displaced relative to the preceding one by 90 degrees; thinking about these three graphs, and how they describe the motion of a horizontal mass-spring system, will give you an intuitive understanding of the dynamics of simple harmonic motion (SHM).Knowing the defining equation of SHM, a = -w2x, and remembering that x, v and a are all sine or cosine functions, you can derive all the equations by simply applying Newton's laws to the system. Do this once, and see how each equation arises from the underlying physics; this will help you remember them, because you'll know what they mean and why they're true.

GC

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

When 0.81 m of a wire with cross-sectional area of 3.1*10^-11 m^2 is connected across a 2 V battery a current of 1.6 A flows in the wire. Find the resistivity of the material of the wire.


Calculate the flight time of a ball moving in parabolic motion, with initial velocity 5.0m/s at angle 30 degrees from the horizontal travelling for 23 metres.


What is the equivalence principle of General Relativity and what does it mean?


One of the decays of potassium (A=40, Z=19) results in an excited argon atom with excess energy of 1.50 Mev. In order to be stable, it emits a gamma photon. What frequency and wavelength has this gamma photon?