An automobile with a mass of 1000 kg, including passengers, settles 1.0 cm closer to the road for every additional 100 kg of passengers. It is driven with a constant horizontal component of speed 20 km/h over a washboard road with sinusoidal bumps. The amplitude and wavelength of the sine curve are 5.0 cm and 20 cm, respectively. The distance between the front and back wheels is 2.4 m. Find the amplitude of oscillation of the automobile, assuming it moves vertically as an undamped driven harmonic oscillator. Neglect the mass of the wheels and springs and assume that the wheels are always in contact with the road.

Most harmonic oscillators are damped and, if undriven, eventually come to a stop. Why?

Check Your Understanding Identify one way you could decrease the maximum velocity of a simple harmonic oscillator.

A vibration sensor, used in testing a washing machine, consists of a cube of aluminum 1.50 cm on edge mounted on one end of a strip of spring steel (like a hacksaw blade) that lies in a vertical plane. The strips mass is small compared with that of the cube, but the strips length is large compared with the size of the cube. The other end of the strip is clamped to the frame of the washing machine that is not operating. A horizontal force of 1.43 N applied to the cube is required to hold it 2.75 cm away from its equilibrium position. If it is released, what is its frequency of vibration?

If the amplitude of a damped oscillator decreases to 1/e of its initial value after n periods, show that the frequency of the oscillator must be approximately [1 − (8π2n2)−1] times the frequency of the corresponding undamped oscillator.

Show that, if a driven oscillator is only lightly damped and driven near resonance, the Q of the system is approximately Q2(TotalenergyEnergylossduringoneperiod)

Use the data in Table P16.59 for a block of mass m = 0.250 kg and assume friction is negligible. a. Write an expression for the force FH exerted by the spring on the block. b. Sketch FH versus t.

Give an example of a simple harmonic oscillator, specifically noting how its frequency is independent of amplitude.

If a car has a suspension system with a force constant of 5.00104 N/m , how much energy must the car’s shocks remove to dampen an oscillation starting with a maximum displacement of 0.0750 m?