Hooke's law

If we Taylor expand the force about a point, we find:

A restoring force linearly proportional to the displacement is named after Robert Hooke (!"# $ %&"'(
)ewton and Hooke disputed the credit for disco*ering the in*erse+s,uare law of gra*ity and despised
each other(
In -:
. / +kx
setting the e,uilibrium position to be x
&
( Inserting this into )ewton0s 1
nd
law yields:
m d
1
x2dt
1
/ + kx d
1
x2dt
1
3 4
1
x / &
This is a 1
nd
order differential e,uation, which implies the general solution has 1 constant determined
by 1 I5s( 6e*eral e,ui*alent choices:
x(t' / A sin (4t 3 7' / A cos(4t 3 8' / 9 sin 4t 3 5 cos 4t
5hoose a form of the solution suited to the I5s of the problem(
6how that : / ; k A
1
/ const(
<eriod: / 1=24 .re,uency: > / 2/ 421=
In 1- and the special case:
we ha*e
F / +kr / ma
This is 1 uncoupled ?-:s in 5artesian coordinates:
d
1
x2dt
1
3 4
1
x / &
d
1
y2dt
1
3 4
1
y / &
The solutions are thus independent:
x(t' / A
x
cos(4t + 8
x
'
y(t' / A
y
cos(4t + 8
y
'
-efining @ / 8
x
$ 8
y
, we can show these e,uations imply:
y(t' / A
y
cos(4t $ 8
x
3 @' / A
y
Acos(4t $ 8
x
' cos @ $ sin(4t $ 8
x
' sin @B
/ A
y
Ax2A
x
cos @ + CA $ (x2A
x
'
1
B sin @B
Isolating s,uare+root term and s,uaring, we find:
@ / =21 (left circular polariDed' or "=21 (right circular polariDed'
@ / & (linearly polariDed y2A
y
/ x2A
x
' or = (linearly polariDed y2A
y
/ +x2A
x
'
Eenerally we ha*e elliptical motion(
Fhen tensor of
st
deri*ati*es is not proportional to the identity matrix, we ha*e:
x(t' / A
x
cos(4
x
t $ 8
x
'
y(t' / A
y
cos(4
y
t $ 8
y
'
6uch a cur*e will be closed only if 4
x
24
y
is a rational number (fre,uencies are commensurable'( If
fre,uencies are incommensurable, cur*e will e*entually fill the entire rectangle( Important for stellar
orbits in galactic potentials(
Phase diagrams:
)ewton0s 1
nd
law is a 1
nd
order differential e,uation, re,uiring 1 I5s per degree of freedom to fully
specify the solution( It is sometimes useful to consider solutions not in the ) dimensional
configuration space, but the 1) dimensional phase space( TraGectories in phase space cannot cross(
6imple harmonic oscillators trace out ellipses in phase space:
Damped oscillators:
If the 6H? has a damping force that linear in the *elocity, the :?H becomes:
which implies:
where 8 / b21m is the damping parameter( The solutions to linear, homogenous ?-:s such as this one
are x(t' / 5e
rt
( Inserting into the abo*e, we find:
implying the general solution:
This solution has ,ualitati*ely different beha*ior in " cases:
( underdamping: 4 I 8
1( critical damping: 4 / 8
"( o*erdamping: 4 J 8
Underdamping:
In case abo*e, the general solution becomes:
where
In general, A

and A
1
are complex, gi*ing K unknowns, but the re,uirement that x and dx2dt be real
pro*ides 1 constraints, lea*ing the desired 1 constants for our 1
nd
order ?-:( Fe can either recogniDe
that A
1
is the complex conGugate of A

, or choose alternati*e linear combinations that we know to be

real, sin 4t and cos 4t:
Important points:
1. :n*elope of traGectory e
+8t
(
2. .re,uency is lower than undamped oscillator 4

J 4(
3. d:2dt / .
damp
x dx2dt / +b (dx2dt'
1
other energy is going into <(:( of oscillator(
Critical damping:
The solution is:
5heck this(
Ley feature of critical damping is that the solution approaches e,uilibrium faster than either of the
abo*e cases(
!erdamping:
In this case, the general solution is:
where:
.irst term dominates at late times(
"in#soidal dri!ing $orces:
The solution to this e,uation can be expressed as x(t' / x
c
(t' 3 x
p
(t' where the complementary solution
*anishes when inserted into the RH6 as in the absence of dri*ing( Fe guess that the particular solution
is:
and find that:
At late times t II 28, the complementary solution dies away and the system approaches the particular
solution( The phase lag @ increases from & at 4 / & to =21 at 4 / 4
&
to = at 4 II 4
&
as seen below:
The amplitude - is maximiDed where the denominator is minimiDed:
Resonance is only possible for 4
&
I 8C1, in which case the amplitude will be:
This amplification is often described in terms of the quality factor:
In the limit 4
&
II 8, the ratio -24
&
1
A goes to M( Amplification for different *alues of M is shown
below:
)otice that as M increases (8 decreases', the peak of - increases and 4
R
approaches 4
&
( The .FHH of
the resonance is:
The range of M in physical systems *aries greatly( 6tandard mechanical systems can ha*e M of a few,
the best mechanical oscillators can ha*e M N &
K
, and atomic transitions can ha*e M I &
%
(
%lectrical oscillations:
An electrical circuit with a capacitor and inductor is also a simple harmonic oscillator( Apply
Lirchoff0s law to this circuit yields (I / +d,2dt':
This oscillator has a fre,uency:
1 I5s correspond to charge and current at time t / &( Inductance corresponds to mass in the mechanical
systemO in*erse of capacitance to spring constant( :lectric potential energy of capacitor corresponds to
mechanical potential energy of springO energy in magnetic field of inductor corresponds to kinetic
energy(
A constant force (such as gra*ity' displaces the e,uilibrium position of 6H?, but otherwise lea*es
solution unchanged:
The same is true of a constant emf in an electrical circuit:
yielding a solution:
Adding a resistor to the circuit corresponds to damping:
Fe see that 8 / R21P and the solution to this e,uation are as for the damped 6H?:
Complex &mpedance
The complex impedance Q of the element of a circuit is the ratio of the *oltage across that element to
the current(
R(t' / R
&
e
i4t
Resistor: R / IR Q / R2I / R
5apacitor: , / 5R I / 5 dR2dt / i45R Q / +i245
Inductor: R / PdI2dt I / S R2P dt / R2i4P Q / i4P
Fe add the impedance of series elements and the in*erse impedances of parallel elements( .or the
circuit as a whole I(t' / R(t'2Q implying that for a sinusoidal dri*ing *oltage, the magnitude of the
current will be R
&
2Q
&
and the phase lag of the current will be ArgAQB(
"eries and Parallel
If we had springs in series:
implying that the effecti*e spring constant is:
If we add capacitors in series, the charge on the capacitors must be the same implying:
It appears at first that there is a direct analogy between springs and capacitors in series( Howe*er, 5
enters into 4
&
as the in*erse of the spring constant k( If we want to create an electrical circuit with the
same 4
&
as a mechanical circuit, we need instead
This is pro*ided by capacitors in parallel:
5on*ersely, to create the electrical analogue of springs in parallel:
re,uires
i(e( capacitors in series( Applying a time+*arying emf to an electrical oscillator is entirely analogous to
applying a time+*arying dri*ing force to a mechanical oscillator(
Principle o$ "#perposition
The 6H? operator:
is linear, implying that we can add the particular solutions for different dri*ing functions to find the
solution for the total dri*ing function(
.ourier0s theorem tells us that any periodic function (with period and fre,uency 4n / 1=2' can be
expressed as a series of sin and cos terms:
where
Fe can therefore express the particular solution to any periodic dri*ing function as:
'reen's $#nction
How do we deal with an arbitrary (non+periodic' dri*ing functionT An acceleration a applied at a time
t
&
o*er a short time inter*al JJ 1=24
&
will lead to the particular solution:
Any acceleration a(t' can be considered as a succession of these impulsesO by the principle of
superposition any particular solution can therefore be expressed as a summation of these impulse
responses:
where E(t, t0' is an example of a Green's function( Ereen0s function are incredibly useful for sol*ing
linear, inhomogeneous differential e,uations(