Oscillations

Explore motion that repeats. Watch masses on springs and swinging pendulums, then add damping and a driving force to see resonance.

Key concepts

A restoring force proportional to displacement produces sinusoidal motion

How long one cycle takes, and what sets it: mass, stiffness, length and gravity

Friction drains energy so the amplitude decays over time

Driving a system near its natural frequency builds up large amplitudes

A mass on a spring with live position, velocity and energy graphs

Swing a pendulum and compare the exact motion with the small-angle approximation

Add damping and a driving force, and trace the resonance curve