This General Science quiz on Oscillations: Simple Harmonic Motion and the Pendulum puts 10 multiple-choice questions to you, the verified MCQs published with GK24's note on the topic, 2 of them asked in real previous-year papers. Every question carries a full explanation of why the correct option is right and why the other options are wrong, so you learn the fact behind the answer rather than the letter. Attempt it right after reading the note, keep to the timer, and use the explanations at the end to mark what needs another look. Sit it again before the exam as a quick revision of the topic.
10 questions with answers and explanations
If a particle is moving with simple harmonic motion, the velocity is _________ at the mean position.
In simple harmonic motion the velocity is given by omega times the square root of A squared minus x squared.
Read the full explanation →A child is sitting on a swing. Its minimum and maximum heights from the ground are 0.75 m and 2 m respectively. Its maximum speed will be
A swing is a pendulum, and its speed is greatest at the lowest point, where all the potential energy gained at the top has turned into kinetic energy.
Read the full explanation →The time period of a simple pendulum does not depend on which of the following?
The time period of a simple pendulum is two pi times the square root of the length divided by g, in which the mass of the bob does not appear at all; a heavy bob and a light bob of the same length keep the same time, which is the…
Read the full explanation →The length of a second's pendulum, at a place where the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s squared, is nearly
A second's pendulum is one whose time period is exactly two seconds, so that each swing from one side to the other takes one second.
Read the full explanation →If the length of a simple pendulum is made four times its original value, its time period will become
The time period varies as the square root of the length, so multiplying the length by four multiplies the period by the square root of four, that is by two; to double the period of a pendulum its length must be made four times.
Read the full explanation →If a pendulum clock is taken from the earth to the moon, where the acceleration due to gravity is about one sixth, its time period will
The time period varies inversely as the square root of g, so if g falls to one sixth, the period is multiplied by the square root of six, about 2.45 times; the pendulum swings more slowly and a pendulum clock taken to the moon would lose time badly.
Read the full explanation →In simple harmonic motion, the potential energy of the oscillating body is maximum at
Potential energy is proportional to the square of the displacement, so it is greatest where the displacement is greatest, that is at the two ends of the path, where the body is momentarily at rest and its kinetic energy is zero.
Read the full explanation →The acceleration of a body executing simple harmonic motion is maximum at
In simple harmonic motion the acceleration equals minus omega squared times the displacement, so it grows with displacement and is greatest at the ends of the path, where its value is A omega squared and it points back towards the centre.
Read the full explanation →Who built the first pendulum clock, using the principle discovered by Galileo?
The Dutch scientist Huygens designed the first working pendulum clock in 1656, after Galileo had noticed that a swinging lamp took the same time for each swing whether it swung far or little, the property called isochronism.
Read the full explanation →Soldiers are asked to break step while marching across a bridge in order to avoid
If the frequency of the soldiers' rhythmic steps happens to match the natural frequency of the bridge, the bridge is driven at its own frequency and its amplitude of vibration can build up to a dangerous level; breaking step destroys the rhythm and avoids the risk.
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