Looking for classes? Ksquare Career Institute, Bengaluru →
Periodic and Oscillatory Motion
Concepts tested here
- Uniform circular motion versus SHM
All Questions
2005 AIPMT 1 question
-
The circular motion of a particle with constant speed is -A periodic motion repeats itself after equal intervals of time. A particle moving in a circle with constant speed returns to the same point after every time period $T = \dfrac{2\pi r}{v}$, so the motion is periodic.
Simple harmonic motion is a to and fro motion along a straight line about a mean position, under a restoring force proportional to the displacement ($F = -kx$).
Uniform circular motion is not a to and fro motion along a line, and the centripetal force is not of the form $-kx$ along the path, so it is not simple harmonic.
However, the projection of uniform circular motion on any diameter executes SHM.
So the circular motion with constant speed is periodic but not simple harmonic.