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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Types of Simple Harmonic Motion, this is the second lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Simple Harmonic Motion, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
Based on the trajectory (path) of the oscillating object, there are two types of simple harmonic motion.
1) If oscillations occur according a straight line, such as when we pull a spring and then we release it, we obtain a linear simple harmonic motion, For example, an oscillating spring makes linear simple harmonic motion as shown in the figure below.
In this case, elastic force acts as a restoring force because it tries to oppose the springs elongation or compression.
2) If a hanged object swings around a central line (usually a vertical line dictated by the existence of gravity), we have an angular simple harmonic motion as shown in the figure below.
The angle θ is an important parameter of SHM for which we will discuss in the next paragraph. Here, the direction of restoring force F is determined by the sum of the two force vectors acting on the object: gravitational force Fg and tension T of the string, whose sum gives the restoring force F.
We will discuss angular SHM in the next Physics tutorial. In this topic we will focus exclusively on linear SHM.
You have reached the end of Physics lesson 10.1.2 Types of Simple Harmonic Motion. There are 6 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Simple Harmonic Motion, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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