Date: ______________________________ Lecture 7 — Forced and Damped Oscillations page 1

Damped and Forced Oscillations

A. Objectives
Describe the motion of a damped simple harmonic oscillator and sketch a graph
of the oscillator’s position as a function of time, define instantaneous position
for a damped SHO, determine the time-dependent amplitude of a damped SHO,
calculate the angular frequency of a damped SHO and compare that frequency
to the SHO without damping, and define an approximation of time-dependent
energy in in damped SHO. Distinguish between the natural angular frequency 𝜔
and the driving angular frequency 𝜔! , recognize the position function for the
forced simple harmonic oscillator as the solution to the driven oscillator
equation of motion, understand graphs of amplitude as a function of driving
angular frequency and the dependence of the location/shape/height of the
resonant peak on that graph on the damping coefficient b the Q value.

B. Key Terms
Exponential decay envelope

Damping force and damping constant

Overdamping vs critical damping vs underdamping

Resonance

Q-value (quality factor)

Q = 6, 2, 0.71 for A, B, and

C respectively

This study source was downloaded by 100000869572678 from CourseHero.com on 07-24-2023 00:12:43 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/203136325/Lecture-7-Forced-and-Damped-Oscillationspdf/
 Lecture 7 — Forced and Damped Oscillations page 2

C. Key Formulas

𝐹! = −𝑏𝑣

−𝑏𝑣 − 𝑘𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎

𝑑" 𝑥 𝑑𝑥
𝑚 "
+𝑏 + 𝑘𝑥 = 0
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

$
𝑥(𝑡) = 𝐴𝑒 #"%& cos(𝜔' 𝑡 + 𝜙) = 𝐴𝑒 #(& cos (𝜔' 𝑡 + 𝜙)

𝑏
𝛾=
2𝑚

𝑘 𝑏"
𝜔 =:
'
−
𝑚 4𝑚"

1 $
𝐸(𝑡) ≈ 𝑘𝐴" 𝑒 #%&
2

−𝑏𝑣 − 𝑘𝑥 + 𝐹) 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜔! 𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎

Where 𝐹*+& = 𝐹) cos𝜔! 𝑡 and 𝜔! = 2𝜋𝑓!

𝑑" 𝑥 𝑑𝑥
𝑚 "
+𝑏 + 𝑘𝑥 = 𝐹) cos𝜔! 𝑡
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
$
𝑥 = 𝐴) cos(𝜔! 𝑡 + 𝜙) ) + 𝐴) 𝑒 #"%& cos(𝜔' 𝑡) ≈ 𝐴) cos(𝜔! 𝑡 + 𝜙) )
,!
𝐴) =
# # #
%-./" #/ # 0 1$ # /" /%#

#
/ # #/" 6
𝜙) = tan#3 $ and note that 𝜔 = 𝜔' ≈ G%
/" 4 5
%

𝑚𝜔
𝑄=
𝑏

This study source was downloaded by 100000869572678 from CourseHero.com on 07-24-2023 00:12:43 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/203136325/Lecture-7-Forced-and-Damped-Oscillationspdf/
 Lecture 7 — Forced and Damped Oscillations page 3

D. Practice
Example 1: For a damped oscillator with 𝑚 = 1.349 kg, 𝑘 = 110.5 N/m and 𝑏 = 1.722 kg/s, what
is (a) the period of motion? (b) the length of time it takes the amplitude of the damped oscillator to
drop to half its value? And (c) the length of time it takes the mechanical energy to drop to half its
value?

Example 2: A 1000 kg car carrying four 82 kg people travels over a “washboard” dirt road with
corrugations 4.0 m apart. The car bounces with maximum amplitude when its speed is 16 km/h.
When the car stops, and the people get out, by how much does the car body rise on its suspension?

This study source was downloaded by 100000869572678 from CourseHero.com on 07-24-2023 00:12:43 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/203136325/Lecture-7-Forced-and-Damped-Oscillationspdf/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)