Engineering Mechanics
Engineering Mechanics. Instructor: Professor Manoj K Harbola, Department of Physics, IIT Kanpur. In this course, we would be studying mechanical interaction between different bodies when they interact through the forces applied on each other. Topics covered in this course include Review of Newton's laws of motion and vector algebra; Equilibrium of bodies; Plane trusses; Friction; Properties of plane surfaces; Method of virtual work; Motion of particles; Momentum; Work and energy; Rotational kinematics and dynamics; Simple harmonic oscillator; and Motion in non-inertial frames. (from nptel.ac.in)
| Lecture 82 - Expanding Potential Energy about the Equilibrium Point and the Corresponding Force |
With this lecture we begin to learn about simple harmonic motion. To motivate why this is important, in this lecture, we first discuss why the simplest motion about a stable equilibrium point in general can be described well by simple harmonic motion. Thus we expand the potential energy of a particle about its equilibrium point and show that in a majority of cases, it can be taken to be varying quadratically as a function of displacement leading to a restoring force proportional to the displacement.
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