Week 18
Reading: PSE Chap 13 ( Simple harmonic motion) and 16, waves
Some fascinating resources:
Homework Problems: Just for practice for the final exam on Friday, Dec. 23.
- The loudest sound in recent history occurred when Krakatoa erupted on August 27, 1883. Check out this article from Nautilus magazine: The sound so loud that it circled the earth four times. For a more technical report, here is VerBeeks' 1884 paper in Nature magazine detailing the Krakatoa eruption. VerBeek, R. The Krakatoa Eruption. Nature 30, 10–15 (1884).
- This video documentary of the December 2019 volcanic eruption on White Island has disturbing accounts from survivors who were trapped on the island.
- The pressure wave created by the explosion of a volcano of Papua New Guinea was documented in this video.
- On a different note, Wikipedia has a nice article on the famous Tunguska event of 1908, when a meteor struck in central Russia.
- And of course, there is the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980.
Homework Problems: Just for practice for the final exam on Friday, Dec. 23.
- Mass on a spring: A block of mass M = 1 kg is placed on a frictionless table. It is attached to a spring whose spring constant is 5 N/meter. The spring is compressed by 5 cm and then released at time t = 0.
- What is the angular frequency of the mass as it oscillates back and forth across the surface of the table? (omega = sqrt(5) rad/sec)
- Write down a mathematical function that describes the motion of the mass as a function of time. (x = 5cm * cos(omega * t))
- Make a plot of this function and label your axes appropriately.
- What are the kinetic energy and potential energies of the mass-spring system at t = 1 second.
- Wha tis the total energy of the mass-spring system while it is oscillating? (E = 2/160 joules)