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Is it possible for a motion to be isochronous (time period is independent of amplitude) but not true s.h.m.? Can an s.h.m. be non-isochronous?

Physics Asked by Pierre Euler on May 11, 2021

Is it possible for a motion to be isochronous (time period is independent of amplitude) but not true s.h.m.? Can an s.h.m. be non-isochronous?

Another question I have is do all periodic motions approximate to s.h.m. at small amplitude?

One Answer

Well, assuming that by s.h.m. you means "simple harmonic motion" then to answer your second question first, of course all s.h.m. systems are isochronous.

Your first question has also a simple answer: a point mass submitted to a uniform gravity within a cycloid shape, also known as "tautochrone curve" or "isochrone curve" has a period independent from the amplitude, without being a s.h.m. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautochrone_curve

Finally to your third point : no, you can have periodic motion that do not have an s.h.m. approximation at small amplitude.

Consider the curve $y=x^4$, $y$ being the vertical direction and $x$ the horizontal one. Put a ball in it, without friction. The motion will be periodic, but the period of small oscillations will increase as the inverse of the amplitude in the $x$ direction when this amplitude becomes small (as a consequence of the virial theorem : kinetic energy that behaves as (X/T)^2 of the same order as the potential energy that behaves as X^4 hence T behaves as 1/X, where X is a typical value of $x$).

(This is true only at small $x$, when the motion along $y$ is very small. For large displacement, the period goes like $sqrt Ypropto X^2$, $Y$ being a typical value of $y$, but this is a completely opposite situation.)

Answered by Alfred on May 11, 2021

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