Simple Harmonic Motion
Oscillation whose restoring force is proportional to the distance from rest.
Simple harmonic motion
A weight hung from a pivot that can swing freely.
A pendulum
The material a mechanical wave travels through.
A medium
The high point of a wave.
A crest
A wave hits a boundary and reverses direction.
Reflection
Maximum displacement from equilibrium.
Amplitude
Time for one full cycle.
Period
A single traveling disturbance, not a train of them.
A pulse wave
The shape of a wave on a graph.
A waveform
Two crests meet and the amplitudes add.
Constructive interference
At equilibrium, force is smallest and this is largest.
Speed
Frequency and period are this of each other.
Reciprocals
A wave that can travel through empty space.
An electromagnetic wave
Time for one wavelength to pass.
Period
A crest meets a trough and the amplitudes subtract.
Destructive interference
Oscillations dying out because of friction.
Damping
A simple pendulum’s period does not depend on mass or this.
Amplitude
Vibration perpendicular to the travel direction.
A transverse wave
Distance from one crest to the next.
Wavelength
A wave pattern that looks still on a string.
A standing wave
Compress a spring and it stores this.
Potential energy
A mass-spring period depends on mass and this stiffness number.
The spring constant
A longitudinal wave is also called a density, pressure, or this kind of wave.
A compression wave
Wave speed equals frequency times this.
Wavelength
Points of maximum motion on that still pattern.
Antinodes