Oscillation

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Oscillationistherepetitivevariation,typicallyintime,ofsomemeasureabouta
centralvalue(oftenapointofequilibrium)orbetweentwoormoredifferentstates.
Familiarexamplesincludeaswingingpendulumandalternatingcurrentpower.
Thetermvibrationissometimesusedmorenarrowlytomeanamechanical
oscillationbutissometimesusedasasynonymof"oscillation".
Oscillationsoccurnotonlyinmechanicalsystemsbutalsoindynamicsystemsin
virtuallyeveryareaofscience:forexamplethebeatinghumanheart,business
cyclesineconomics,predatorpreypopulationcyclesinecology,geothermal
geysersingeology,vibratingstringsinmusicalinstruments,periodicfiringof
nervecellsinthebrain,andtheperiodicswellingofCepheidvariablestarsin
astronomy.

Contents
1Simpleharmonicoscillator
2Dampedanddrivenoscillations
3Coupledoscillations

Anundampedspringmass
systemisanoscillatory
system

4Continuoussystemswaves
5Mathematics
6Examples
6.1Mechanical
6.2Electrical
6.3Electromechanical
6.4Optical
6.5Biological
6.6Human
6.7Economicandsocial
6.8Climateandgeophysics
6.9Astrophysics
6.10Quantummechanical
6.11Chemical
7Seealso
8References
9Externallinks

Simpleharmonicoscillator
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Thesimplestmechanicaloscillatingsystemisamassattachedtoalinearspringsubjecttoonlyweightand
tension.Suchasystemmaybeapproximatedonanairtableoricesurface.Thesystemisinanequilibriumstate
whenthespringisstatic.Ifthesystemisdisplacedfromtheequilibrium,thereisanetrestoringforceonthe
mass,tendingtobringitbacktoequilibrium.However,inmovingthemassbacktotheequilibriumposition,it
hasacquiredmomentumwhichkeepsitmovingbeyondthatposition,establishinganewrestoringforceinthe
oppositesense.Ifaconstantforcesuchasgravityisaddedtothesystem,thepointofequilibriumisshifted.The
timetakenforanoscillationtooccurisoftenreferredtoastheoscillatoryperiod.
Systemswheretherestoringforceonabodyisdirectlyproportionaltoitsdisplacement,suchasthedynamicsof
thespringmasssystem,aredescribedmathematicallybythesimpleharmonicoscillatorandtheregularperiodic
motionisknownassimpleharmonicmotion.Inthespringmasssystem,oscillationsoccurbecause,atthestatic
equilibriumdisplacement,themasshaskineticenergywhichisconvertedintopotentialenergystoredinthe
springattheextremesofitspath.Thespringmasssystemillustratessomecommonfeaturesofoscillation,
namelytheexistenceofanequilibriumandthepresenceofarestoringforcewhichgrowsstrongerthefurtherthe
systemdeviatesfromequilibrium.

Dampedanddrivenoscillations
Allrealworldoscillatorsystemsarethermodynamicallyirreversible.Thismeanstherearedissipativeprocesses
suchasfrictionorelectricalresistancewhichcontinuallyconvertsomeoftheenergystoredintheoscillatorinto
heatintheenvironment.Thisiscalleddamping.Thus,oscillationstendtodecaywithtimeunlessthereissome
netsourceofenergyintothesystem.Thesimplestdescriptionofthisdecayprocesscanbeillustratedby
oscillationdecayoftheharmonicoscillator.
Inaddition,anoscillatingsystemmaybesubjecttosomeexternalforce,aswhenanACcircuitisconnectedtoan
outsidepowersource.Inthiscasetheoscillationissaidtobedriven.
Somesystemscanbeexcitedbyenergytransferfromtheenvironment.Thistransfertypicallyoccurswhere
systemsareembeddedinsomefluidflow.Forexample,thephenomenonofflutterinaerodynamicsoccurswhen
anarbitrarilysmalldisplacementofanaircraftwing(fromitsequilibrium)resultsinanincreaseintheangleof
attackofthewingontheairflowandaconsequentialincreaseinliftcoefficient,leadingtoastillgreater
displacement.Atsufficientlylargedisplacements,thestiffnessofthewingdominatestoprovidetherestoring
forcethatenablesanoscillation.

Coupledoscillations
Theharmonicoscillatorandthesystemsitmodelshaveasingledegreeoffreedom.Morecomplicatedsystems
havemoredegreesoffreedom,forexampletwomassesandthreesprings(eachmassbeingattachedtofixed
pointsandtoeachother).Insuchcases,thebehaviorofeachvariableinfluencesthatoftheothers.Thisleadstoa
couplingoftheoscillationsoftheindividualdegreesoffreedom.Forexample,twopendulumclocks(ofidentical
frequency)mountedonacommonwallwilltendtosynchronise.Thisphenomenonwasfirstobservedby
ChristiaanHuygensin1665.[1]Theapparentmotionsofthecompoundoscillationstypicallyappearsvery
complicatedbutamoreeconomic,computationallysimplerandconceptuallydeeperdescriptionisgivenby
resolvingthemotionintonormalmodes.
Morespecialcasesarethecoupledoscillatorswhereenergyalternatesbetweentwoformsofoscillation.Well
knownistheWilberforcependulum,wheretheoscillationalternatesbetweenanelongationofaverticalspring
andtherotationofanobjectattheendofthatspring.

Continuoussystemswaves
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Asthenumberofdegreesoffreedombecomesarbitrarilylarge,a
systemapproachescontinuityexamplesincludeastringorthe
surfaceofabodyofwater.Suchsystemshave(intheclassicallimit)
aninfinitenumberofnormalmodesandtheiroscillationsoccurin
theformofwavesthatcancharacteristicallypropagate.

Mathematics
Themathematicsofoscillationdealswiththequantificationofthe
amountthatasequenceorfunctiontendstomovebetweenextremes.
Thereareseveralrelatednotions:oscillationofasequenceofreal
numbers,oscillationofarealvaluedfunctionatapoint,and
oscillationofafunctiononaninterval(oropenset).
Twopendulumswiththesameperiodfixed
onastringactaspairofcoupled
oscillators.Theoscillationalternates
betweenthetwo.

Oscillationofasequence(showninblue)isthe
differencebetweenthelimitsuperiorandlimit
inferiorofthesequence.

Examples
Mechanical

Electromechanical

Economicandsocial

Doublependulum

Crystaloscillator

Businesscycle

Foucaultpendulum

Loudspeaker

Generationgap

Helmholtzresonator

Microphone

Malthusianeconomics

OscillationsintheSun
(helioseismology),stars
(asteroseismology)and
Neutronstaroscillations.
Quantumharmonic
oscillator
Playgroundswing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscillation

Optical
Laser(oscillationof

Newscycle

Climateandgeophysics

electromagneticfieldwith

Atlanticmultidecadal

frequencyoforder1015Hz)

oscillation

OscillatorTodaorself

Chandlerwobble

pulsation(pulsationof

Climateoscillation
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Stringinstruments

outputpoweroflaserat

ElNioSouthern

Torsionalvibration

frequencies104Hz

Oscillation

Tuningfork

106Hzinthetransient

Pacificdecadaloscillation

Vibratingstring

regime)

Quasibiennialoscillation

Wilberforcependulum

Quantumoscillatormay

Leverescapement

refertoanopticallocal

Electrical
Alternatingcurrent
Armstrong(orTickleror
Meissner)oscillator

Astrophysics

oscillator,aswellastoa

Neutronstars

usualmodelinquantum

CyclicModel

optics.

Biological

Quantummechanical
Neutrinooscillations

Astablemultivibrator

Circadianrhythm

Blockingoscillator

Quantumharmonic

Circadianoscillator

Butleroscillator

oscillator

LotkaVolterraequation

Clapposcillator

Neuraloscillation

Colpittsoscillator

Oscillatinggene

Delaylineoscillator

Segmentationoscillator

Dow(orultraaudion)
oscillator
Electronicoscillator
Hartleyoscillator
Oscillistor
Pierceoscillator
Relaxationoscillator
RLCcircuit
Royeroscillator

Human

Chemical
BelousovZhabotinsky
reaction
Mercurybeatingheart
BriggsRauscherreaction

Neuraloscillation

BrayLiebhafskyreaction

Insulinreleaseoscillations
gonadotropinreleasing
hormonepulsations
Pilotinducedoscillation
Voiceproduction

Vakoscillator
Wienbridgeoscillator

Seealso
Antiresonance

Oscillatorphasenoise

Signalgenerator

Beat(acoustics)

Periodicfunction

Squegging

BIBOstability

Phasenoise

Strangeattractor

Criticalspeed

Reciprocatingmotion

Structuralstability

Cycle(music)

Resonator

Tunedmassdamper

Dynamicalsystem

Rhythm

Vibration

Earthquakeengineering

Seasonality

Vibrator(mechanical)

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Feedback

Selfoscillation

Frequency

Hiddenoscillation

References
1. ^Strogatz,Steven.Sync:TheEmergingScienceofSpontaneousOrder.Hyperion,2003,pp106109

Externallinks
Vibrations(http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_books/3vw/ch01/ch01.html)achapterfromanonline
textbook
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