Periodic and Oscillatory Motion

Oscillatory motion is a to and fro motion about a mean position and periodic motion repeats at regular intervals of time. All oscillatory motions are periodic and all periodic motions are not oscillatory.

If the body is given a small displacement from the position, a force comes into play which tries to bring the body back to the equilibrium point, giving rise to oscillations or vibrations. For example, a ball placed in a bowl will be in equilibrium at the bottom. If displaced a little from the point, it will perform oscillations in the bowl. Every oscillatory motion is periodic, but every periodic motion need not be oscillatory. Circular motion is a periodic motion, but it is not oscillatory.

When the frequency is small, we call it oscillation (like the oscillation of a branch of a tree), while when the frequency is high, we call it vibration (like the vibration of a string of a musical instrument). Simple harmonic motion is the simplest form of oscillatory motion. This motion arises when the force on the oscillating body is directly proportional to its displacement from the mean position, which is also the equilibrium position. At any point in its oscillation, this force is directed towards the mean position.

A motion that repeats itself at regular intervals of time is called periodic motion.The following are the examples of periodic motion.



In practice, oscillating bodies eventually come to rest at their equilibrium positions, because of the damping due to friction and other dissipative causes. However, they can be forced to remain oscillating by means of some external periodic agency.

Any material medium can be pictured as a collection of a large number of coupled oscillators. The collective oscillations of the constituents of a medium manifest themselves as waves. Examples of waves include water waves, seismic waves, electromagnetic waves.

Topics of Heat and Thermodynamics

Time Period of Simple pendulum 


Heat engine
Internal Energy
Zeroth law of thermodynamics
Thermodynamics Introduction
Heat transfer by radiation
Heat transfer by convection
Heat transfer and conduction
Heat and Temperature


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