Question #4ee98

1 Answer
Jun 12, 2014

The frequency is independent of the amplitude.


The key equation for SHM is: a=ω2x
Where the angular frequency, ω=2πf
a is the acceleration,
and x is the displacement.

**As you can see the frequency is not related to the amplitude. ** Actually ω is a constant for this equation. It is the proportionality constant for ax. Thus frequency is dependent only on the dimensions of the oscillator (e.g. mass of bob and length of string for pendula or force constant of spring and mass for mass-spring systems). This is the important point here, frequency is independent of amplitude only for a given oscillator. All SHM oscillators do not have the same frequency!

The equation, a=ω2x, can be proven mathematically but it is quite a long derivation. I will add it below when I have time.

In practical situations the presence of friction and drag do cause the frequency to change if amplitude changes, especially at large amplitudes.