Explain that a steel ball dropped from the edge of a shining bowl performs SHM.

If a steel ball is placed at the lowest point of a smooth, curved bowl and slightly displaced, it moves back and forth.

When the ball is displaced, gravity and the normal force of the bowl create a restoring force directed toward the equilibrium position.

The acceleration of the ball is proportional to its displacement, satisfying the condition of SHM.

If no external resistive forces act, the ball will continue oscillating indefinitely.

This motion is similar to that of a simple pendulum or mass-spring system and is an example of SHM.

Related Questions:

  1. What do you mean by oscillation? Define simple harmonic motion. What are the conditions for a body to perform SHM? Give examples of bodies that perform SHM.
  2. Show that a vibrating mass-spring system performs simple harmonic motion. What is its time period? On what factors does it depend?
  3. Explain the following terms for SHM: Vibration, amplitude, time period, frequency.
  4. Simple harmonic motion and waves
  5. Simple harmonic motion and waves-NFE
  6. Give an example of vibratory motion which is not simple harmonic motion. Give a reason for your selection.
  7. At the extreme position, velocity is zero but acceleration is maximum in simple harmonic motion. How can you theoretically explain it?
  8. What will happen to the acceleration of a mass-spring system if its mass is doubled?
  9. A simple pendulum has a time period “T”. What will happen to its time period if its thread length is shortened to half?
  10. A simple pendulum has a time period of 4 seconds. Will its time period remain the same or change if its steel bob is replaced by a wooden bob of the same size?
  11. Same masses are attached to different springs, one is vibrating faster. Why?
  12. A simple pendulum has a time period “T” in Murree. In Karachi, it has a different time period. What would you do to make its time period the same as it was in Murree?
  13. What will happen to the frequency of waves in a ripple tank if the time period of the electrical vibrator is decreased? What will happen to the wave speed?
  14. Why do water waves refract at the boundary of shallow water and deep water in a ripple tank experiment?
  15. Under what conditions are waves diffracted the most?