Simple Harmonic Motion
Period & Pendulums
Sound Waves
Doppler, Loudness & Beats
Resonance, Music & the Ear
100

Motion whose restoring force is proportional to the distance from rest.

Simple harmonic motion

100

The time for one full cycle.

Period

100

Sound waves are this type, consisting of compressions and rarefactions

Longitudinal

100

The change in heard frequency when a source moves toward or away from you.

The Doppler effect

100

The lowest resonant frequency of a string.

Fundamental frequency

200

At maximum stretch, spring force and acceleration are this.

Largest

200

How many cycles happen in a given time.

Frequency

200

A sound above 20,000 Hz.

Ultrasonic

200

If a siren comes toward you, the frequency you hear does this.

Increases

200

When a driving frequency matches the natural frequency and the motion grows.

Resonance

300

At equilibrium, force is smallest and this is largest.

Speed

300

A simple pendulum’s period depends on this property of the pendulum itself.

Length

300

A sound below 20 Hz.

Infrasonic

300

Loudness is measured in these units.

Decibels

300

The quality of a note that comes from mixed harmonics.

Timbre

400

Oscillations dying out because of friction.

Damping

400

Frequency and period are this of each other.

Reciprocals

400

The everyday name for a sound’s frequency.

Pitch

400

Two close pitches produce this "wah-wah" pulsing.

A beat

400

The membrane that turns air vibrations into mechanical motion.

The eardrum

500

The minus sign in Hooke’s law means the force points this way.

Toward rest (equilibrium)

500

A heavier bob does not change the period because extra pull is canceled by extra this.

Inertia

500

Sound is usually fastest in this phase of material.

A solid

500

Beat frequency is the difference between these.

The two frequencies

500

The coiled inner-ear structure that turns vibration into nerve signals.

The cochlea