Simple harmonic motion
MCAT glossary · MCAT
Definition
F = -kx; T = 2π√(m/k) for spring; T = 2π√(L/g) for simple pendulum (small angle).
Simple harmonic motion in plain English
Simple harmonic motion is the smooth back-and-forth wiggle you get whenever something is pulled back toward a resting spot by a force that grows stronger the farther it strays — like a spring that tugs harder the more you stretch it. That rule is written F = -kx: the force F points back toward center (the minus sign) and gets bigger as the distance x from center grows, with k measuring stiffness. Because of this tidy relationship, the motion repeats on a steady clock: a mass on a spring takes T = 2π√(m/k) seconds per cycle, and a small-swing pendulum takes T = 2π√(L/g), where L is its length and g is gravity. A playground swing is the everyday picture — push it aside and it glides back and forth at its own natural rhythm no matter how hard you push.
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