Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
University Physics Volume 1

15.5 Damped Oscillations

University Physics Volume 115.5 Damped Oscillations

Menu
Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. Mechanics
    1. 1 Units and Measurement
      1. Introduction
      2. 1.1 The Scope and Scale of Physics
      3. 1.2 Units and Standards
      4. 1.3 Unit Conversion
      5. 1.4 Dimensional Analysis
      6. 1.5 Estimates and Fermi Calculations
      7. 1.6 Significant Figures
      8. 1.7 Solving Problems in Physics
      9. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    2. 2 Vectors
      1. Introduction
      2. 2.1 Scalars and Vectors
      3. 2.2 Coordinate Systems and Components of a Vector
      4. 2.3 Algebra of Vectors
      5. 2.4 Products of Vectors
      6. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    3. 3 Motion Along a Straight Line
      1. Introduction
      2. 3.1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity
      3. 3.2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
      4. 3.3 Average and Instantaneous Acceleration
      5. 3.4 Motion with Constant Acceleration
      6. 3.5 Free Fall
      7. 3.6 Finding Velocity and Displacement from Acceleration
      8. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    4. 4 Motion in Two and Three Dimensions
      1. Introduction
      2. 4.1 Displacement and Velocity Vectors
      3. 4.2 Acceleration Vector
      4. 4.3 Projectile Motion
      5. 4.4 Uniform Circular Motion
      6. 4.5 Relative Motion in One and Two Dimensions
      7. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    5. 5 Newton's Laws of Motion
      1. Introduction
      2. 5.1 Forces
      3. 5.2 Newton's First Law
      4. 5.3 Newton's Second Law
      5. 5.4 Mass and Weight
      6. 5.5 Newton’s Third Law
      7. 5.6 Common Forces
      8. 5.7 Drawing Free-Body Diagrams
      9. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    6. 6 Applications of Newton's Laws
      1. Introduction
      2. 6.1 Solving Problems with Newton’s Laws
      3. 6.2 Friction
      4. 6.3 Centripetal Force
      5. 6.4 Drag Force and Terminal Speed
      6. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    7. 7 Work and Kinetic Energy
      1. Introduction
      2. 7.1 Work
      3. 7.2 Kinetic Energy
      4. 7.3 Work-Energy Theorem
      5. 7.4 Power
      6. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    8. 8 Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy
      1. Introduction
      2. 8.1 Potential Energy of a System
      3. 8.2 Conservative and Non-Conservative Forces
      4. 8.3 Conservation of Energy
      5. 8.4 Potential Energy Diagrams and Stability
      6. 8.5 Sources of Energy
      7. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
    9. 9 Linear Momentum and Collisions
      1. Introduction
      2. 9.1 Linear Momentum
      3. 9.2 Impulse and Collisions
      4. 9.3 Conservation of Linear Momentum
      5. 9.4 Types of Collisions
      6. 9.5 Collisions in Multiple Dimensions
      7. 9.6 Center of Mass
      8. 9.7 Rocket Propulsion
      9. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    10. 10 Fixed-Axis Rotation
      1. Introduction
      2. 10.1 Rotational Variables
      3. 10.2 Rotation with Constant Angular Acceleration
      4. 10.3 Relating Angular and Translational Quantities
      5. 10.4 Moment of Inertia and Rotational Kinetic Energy
      6. 10.5 Calculating Moments of Inertia
      7. 10.6 Torque
      8. 10.7 Newton’s Second Law for Rotation
      9. 10.8 Work and Power for Rotational Motion
      10. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    11. 11 Angular Momentum
      1. Introduction
      2. 11.1 Rolling Motion
      3. 11.2 Angular Momentum
      4. 11.3 Conservation of Angular Momentum
      5. 11.4 Precession of a Gyroscope
      6. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    12. 12 Static Equilibrium and Elasticity
      1. Introduction
      2. 12.1 Conditions for Static Equilibrium
      3. 12.2 Examples of Static Equilibrium
      4. 12.3 Stress, Strain, and Elastic Modulus
      5. 12.4 Elasticity and Plasticity
      6. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    13. 13 Gravitation
      1. Introduction
      2. 13.1 Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
      3. 13.2 Gravitation Near Earth's Surface
      4. 13.3 Gravitational Potential Energy and Total Energy
      5. 13.4 Satellite Orbits and Energy
      6. 13.5 Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
      7. 13.6 Tidal Forces
      8. 13.7 Einstein's Theory of Gravity
      9. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    14. 14 Fluid Mechanics
      1. Introduction
      2. 14.1 Fluids, Density, and Pressure
      3. 14.2 Measuring Pressure
      4. 14.3 Pascal's Principle and Hydraulics
      5. 14.4 Archimedes’ Principle and Buoyancy
      6. 14.5 Fluid Dynamics
      7. 14.6 Bernoulli’s Equation
      8. 14.7 Viscosity and Turbulence
      9. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
  3. Waves and Acoustics
    1. 15 Oscillations
      1. Introduction
      2. 15.1 Simple Harmonic Motion
      3. 15.2 Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion
      4. 15.3 Comparing Simple Harmonic Motion and Circular Motion
      5. 15.4 Pendulums
      6. 15.5 Damped Oscillations
      7. 15.6 Forced Oscillations
      8. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    2. 16 Waves
      1. Introduction
      2. 16.1 Traveling Waves
      3. 16.2 Mathematics of Waves
      4. 16.3 Wave Speed on a Stretched String
      5. 16.4 Energy and Power of a Wave
      6. 16.5 Interference of Waves
      7. 16.6 Standing Waves and Resonance
      8. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
    3. 17 Sound
      1. Introduction
      2. 17.1 Sound Waves
      3. 17.2 Speed of Sound
      4. 17.3 Sound Intensity
      5. 17.4 Normal Modes of a Standing Sound Wave
      6. 17.5 Sources of Musical Sound
      7. 17.6 Beats
      8. 17.7 The Doppler Effect
      9. 17.8 Shock Waves
      10. Chapter Review
        1. Key Terms
        2. Key Equations
        3. Summary
        4. Conceptual Questions
        5. Problems
        6. Additional Problems
        7. Challenge Problems
  4. A | Units
  5. B | Conversion Factors
  6. C | Fundamental Constants
  7. D | Astronomical Data
  8. E | Mathematical Formulas
  9. F | Chemistry
  10. G | The Greek Alphabet
  11. Answer Key
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
    10. Chapter 10
    11. Chapter 11
    12. Chapter 12
    13. Chapter 13
    14. Chapter 14
    15. Chapter 15
    16. Chapter 16
    17. Chapter 17
  12. Index

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Describe the motion of damped harmonic motion
  • Write the equations of motion for damped harmonic oscillations
  • Describe the motion of driven, or forced, damped harmonic motion
  • Write the equations of motion for forced, damped harmonic motion

In the real world, oscillations seldom follow true SHM. Friction of some sort usually acts to dampen the motion so it dies away, or needs more force to continue. In this section, we examine some examples of damped harmonic motion and see how to modify the equations of motion to describe this more general case.

A guitar string stops oscillating a few seconds after being plucked. To keep swinging on a playground swing, you must keep pushing (Figure 15.24). Although we can often make friction and other nonconservative forces small or negligible, completely undamped motion is rare. In fact, we may even want to damp oscillations, such as with car shock absorbers.

A photo of a person on a swing
Figure 15.24 To counteract dampening forces, you need to keep pumping a swing. (credit: Bob Mical)

Figure 15.25 shows a mass m attached to a spring with a force constant k.k. The mass is raised to a position A0A0, the initial amplitude, and then released. The mass oscillates around the equilibrium position in a fluid with viscosity but the amplitude decreases for each oscillation. For a system that has a small amount of damping, the period and frequency are constant and are nearly the same as for SHM, but the amplitude gradually decreases as shown. This occurs because the non-conservative damping force removes energy from the system, usually in the form of thermal energy.

A mass m is suspended from a vertical spring and immersed in a fluid that has viscosity eta. A graph of the damped oscillation shows the displacement x in meters on the vertical axis as a function of time in seconds on the horizontal axis. The range of x is from minus A sub zero to plus A sub zero. The time scale is from zero to 7 T, with tics at increments of T. The displacement is plus A sub zero at time zero and oscillates between positive maxima and negative minima, with each full cycle taking the same time T but the amplitude of the oscillations decreasing with time.
Figure 15.25 For a mass on a spring oscillating in a viscous fluid, the period remains constant, but the amplitudes of the oscillations decrease due to the damping caused by the fluid.

Consider the forces acting on the mass. Note that the only contribution of the weight is to change the equilibrium position, as discussed earlier in the chapter. Therefore, the net force is equal to the force of the spring and the damping force (FD)(FD). If the magnitude of the velocity is small, meaning the mass oscillates slowly, the damping force is proportional to the velocity and acts against the direction of motion (FD=bv)(FD=bv). The net force on the mass is therefore

ma=bvkx.ma=bvkx.

Writing this as a differential equation in x, we obtain

md2xdt2+bdxdt+kx=0.md2xdt2+bdxdt+kx=0.
15.23

To determine the solution to this equation, consider the plot of position versus time shown in Figure 15.26. The curve resembles a cosine curve oscillating in the envelope of an exponential function A0eαtA0eαt where α=b2mα=b2m. The solution is

x(t)=A0eb2mtcos(ωt+ϕ).x(t)=A0eb2mtcos(ωt+ϕ).
15.24

It is left as an exercise to prove that this is, in fact, the solution. To prove that it is the right solution, take the first and second derivatives with respect to time and substitute them into Equation 15.23. It is found that Equation 15.24 is the solution if

ω=km(b2m)2.ω=km(b2m)2.

Recall that the angular frequency of a mass undergoing SHM is equal to the square root of the force constant divided by the mass. This is often referred to as the natural angular frequency, which is represented as

ω0=km.ω0=km.
15.25

The angular frequency for damped harmonic motion becomes

ω=ω02(b2m)2.ω=ω02(b2m)2.
15.26
The figure shows a graph of displacement, x in meters, along the vertical axis, versus time in seconds along the horizontal axis. The displacement ranges from minus A sub zero to plus A sub zero and the time ranges from 0 to 10 T. The displacement, shown by a blue curve, oscillates between positive maxima and negative minima, forming a wave whose amplitude is decreasing gradually as we move far from t=0. The time, T, between adjacent crests remains the same throughout. The envelope, the smooth curve that connects the crests and another smooth curve that connects the troughs of the oscillations, is shown as a pair of dashed red lines. The upper curve connecting the crests is labeled as plus A sub zero times e to the quantity minus b t over 2 m. The lower curve connecting the troughs is labeled as minus A sub zero times e to the quantity minus b t over 2 m.
Figure 15.26 Position versus time for the mass oscillating on a spring in a viscous fluid. Notice that the curve appears to be a cosine function inside an exponential envelope.

Recall that when we began this description of damped harmonic motion, we stated that the damping must be small. Two questions come to mind. Why must the damping be small? And how small is small? If you gradually increase the amount of damping in a system, the period and frequency begin to be affected, because damping opposes and hence slows the back and forth motion. (The net force is smaller in both directions.) If there is very large damping, the system does not even oscillate—it slowly moves toward equilibrium. The angular frequency is equal to

ω=km(b2m)2.ω=km(b2m)2.

As b increases, km(b2m)2km(b2m)2 becomes smaller and eventually reaches zero when b=4mkb=4mk. If b becomes any larger, km(b2m)2km(b2m)2 becomes a negative number and km(b2m)2km(b2m)2 is a complex number.

Figure 15.27 shows the displacement of a harmonic oscillator for different amounts of damping. When the damping constant is small, b<4mkb<4mk, the system oscillates while the amplitude of the motion decays exponentially. This system is said to be underdamped, as in curve (a). Many systems are underdamped, and oscillate while the amplitude decreases exponentially, such as the mass oscillating on a spring. The damping may be quite small, but eventually the mass comes to rest. If the damping constant is b=4mkb=4mk, the system is said to be critically damped, as in curve (b). An example of a critically damped system is the shock absorbers in a car. It is advantageous to have the oscillations decay as fast as possible. Here, the system does not oscillate, but asymptotically approaches the equilibrium condition as quickly as possible. Curve (c) in Figure 15.27 represents an overdamped system where b>4mk.b>4mk. An overdamped system will approach equilibrium over a longer period of time.

The position, x in meters on the vertical axis, versus time in seconds on the horizontal axis, with varying degrees of damping. No scale is given for either axis. All three curves start at the same positive position at time zero. Blue curve a, labeled with b squared is less than 4 m k, undergoes a little over two and a quarter oscillations of decreasing amplitude and constant period. Red curve b, labeled with b squared is equal to 4 m k, decreases at t=0 less rapidly than the blue curve, but does not oscillate. The red curve approaches x=0 asymptotically, and is nearly zero within one oscillation of the blue curve. Green curve c, labeled with b squared is greater than 4 m k, decreases at t=0 less rapidly than the red curve, and does not oscillate. The green curve approaches x=0 asymptotically, but is still noticeably above zero at the end of the graph, after more than two oscillations of the blue curve.
Figure 15.27 The position versus time for three systems consisting of a mass and a spring in a viscous fluid. (a) If the damping is small (b<4mk)(b<4mk), the mass oscillates, slowly losing amplitude as the energy is dissipated by the non-conservative force(s). The limiting case is (b) where the damping is (b=4mk)(b=4mk). (c) If the damping is very large (b>4mk)(b>4mk), the mass does not oscillate when displaced, but attempts to return to the equilibrium position.

Critical damping is often desired, because such a system returns to equilibrium rapidly and remains at equilibrium as well. In addition, a constant force applied to a critically damped system moves the system to a new equilibrium position in the shortest time possible without overshooting or oscillating about the new position.

Check Your Understanding 15.5

Why are completely undamped harmonic oscillators so rare?

Order a print copy

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Citation/Attribution

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/1-introduction
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/1-introduction
Citation information

© Apr 5, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.