Simple harmonic motion-the type of oscillatory Movement in a pendulum tied to a string or a spring-

mass system is at the core of understanding the phenomenon of vibration in real life.

Some key terms in measuring this type of movement are magnitude , frequency and phase.

Magnitude:

The extent of the movement from one end to the other also known as displacement.

The units of this are normally ‘microns peak-to-peak’

Frequency:

The rate at which the movement is repeating. It is normally described in terms of cycles per second
or hertz. It is the inverse of the time-period.
Phase:

One cycle of vibration is divided into 360° degrees. Each degree corresponds to the position of the
mass on the circle and the angle is referred to as phase.
Real life vibration signal:

if you were to take several simple harmonic motions of different magnitudes, frequencies and phase
and add all of them up in time then we will get a complex type of vibration which cannot be easily
identified as a simple harmonic motion- this is our real life vibration signal looks. It is a sum of many
simple harmonic motions.