Mistake Master
Mistake Master · AP Physics 1 · Unit 7 · Step-Through Animation
Simple Harmonic Motion Has a Bouncer at the Door
You'll learnthe F = −kx test that decides whether motion is simple harmonic.
Plenty of motion repeats. Very little of it qualifies as simple harmonic. One equation checks IDs — F = −kx — and this file watches it work: the force that always points home, grows with the stretch, and never agrees with the velocity about where to peak.
OSCILLATION LAB
Before you start
What you're looking at
A block on a spring (k = 50 N/m, amplitude 0.2 m) beside a force-versus-position chart.
The question
Many motions repeat — but which ones actually qualify as simple harmonic?
Watch for
The marker riding the force-versus-position line as the block slides, never leaving it.
What the symbols mean
The chart plots force against position; SHM is a straight line through the origin, sloping down with slope −k.
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