Chapter SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION, Seven FORCED VIBRATIONS, AND ORIGIN OF REFRACTIVE INDEX 1 picture of an atom, which is given by the theory of wave mechanic far as problems involving light are concerned, the electr we shall suppose that the electrons have a . says that, so ns behave as though they were held near restoring force which, together mass m, makes them behave like little oscillators, with a resonant frequency The electric field of the light wave polarizes the molecules of the gas, producing oscil- ipole moments. The acceleration of the oscillating charges radiates new waves of the field. ield, interfering with the old field, produces a changed field which is equivalent to a phase shift of the original wave. Because this phase shift is proportional to the thickness of the material, the effect is equivalent to having a different phase velocity in the material. —Richard Feynman, Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 1 7.1 INTRODUCTION We choose the center of the circle as our origin, and we as- sume that at ‘= 0 the point P lies on the x axis (Le., at point The most fundamental vibration associated with wave motion P). Atan arbitrary time the point will beat position P where is the simple harmonic motion; in Sec. 7.2 we will discuss ZPOP)= «ot. simple harmonic motion, and in See. 7.3 we will discuss the y effects (on the vibratory motion) due to damping. If a peri- odie force acts on a vibrating system, the system undergoes ‘what are known as forced vibrations; in Sec. 7.4 we will study. such vibrations which will allow us to understand the origin of refractive index (see Sec. 7.5) and even Rayleigh seatter- ing (sce See. 7.6), which is responsible forthe ed color ofthe -, seting (or rising) Sun and ble olor of the sky (se Fig. 321 3} _ and the color photograph in the insert at the end of the book). 7.2: SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION FS A periodic motion is a motion which repeats itself after regu- lar intervals of time, and the simplest kind of periodic motion isa simple harmonic motion in which the displacement varies eeeith unites enpalee waety ws The footer the sinusoidally with time. To understand simple harmonic mo- ferpendicslar on any one. of the diameters tion, we consider a point P rotating on the circumference of Executes simple harmonic motion. Point P, is the acicle of radius a with an angular velocity @ (see Fig. 7.1). position of the point at t = 0. Fig, 71. The point P is rotating in the counterclockwise direction on the circumference of a circle of radius96 Optics Let d be the foot of the perpendicular from the point P on the x axis. Clearly, the distance 04 = acosor a and as point P rotates on the circumference of the circle, point 4 moves to and fro about the origin on the diameter, ‘When point P is at P,, then the foot of the perpendicular is at (O. This can also be seen from Eq, (1) because when P coin- cides with P,, a = r/2 and hence a cos «at = a cos w/2=0. As the point still moves farther, the foot of the perpendicular will lie on the other side of the origin and thus Od will be nega- tive, as is also evident from Eg. (1) because ef then greater than m/2. When P coincides with P, then O4 = OP, = ~a. ‘When point P moves from P, to P,, OA starts decreasing and it finally goes to zero when P coincides with P,. After P crosses P;, OA starts inereasing again and finally acquires the value a when P coincides with P,, After crossing the point P,, the motion repeats itself. A motion in which the displacement varies sinusoidally with time [as in Eq. (1)] is known as a simple harmonic motion. Thus, when a pot rotates on the circumference of a circle with a uniform angular velocity; the foot of the perpendicular fon any one of its diameters will execute simple harmonic ‘motion. The quantity a is called the amplitude of the motion, ‘and the period of the motion 7'will be the time required 10 complete one revolution. Since the angular velocity is , the time taken for one complete revolution will be 2x. Thus, an © ‘The inverse of the time period is known as the frequency: @ or @ We could as well have studied the motion of the point B, which is the foot of the perpendicular from point P on the y axis. The distance OB is given by (see Fig. 7.1) o! sin or as the time when P was We had conveniently chosen 1= ‘on the x axis. The choice of the time ¢= 0 is arbitrary, and we could have chosen time 1 = 0 to be the instant when P was at P (see Fig. 7.2). Ifthe angle ZP'OX = 8, then the projection fon the x axis at any time 1 is given by oA =accos(ar+ 8) 6 ‘The quantity «os + @ is known as the phase of the motion, and @ represents the initial phase. It is obvious from the above discussion that the value of @ is quite arbitrary and depends on the instant from which we start measuring time. y . CH . Att =00, point P is at P’, and therefore the initial phase is @. Fig. 72 We next consider two points P and Q rotating on the cirele with the same angular velocity, and we let P and Q’ be their respective positions at r= 0. Let the angles ZP’OX and ZQOX be 8 and 6, respectively (see Fig. 7.3). Clearly at an arbitrary time ¢ the distance of the foot ofthe perpendiculars from the origin would be Xp = a.cos (or + 8) (a) xg = aos (or +) ) ‘The quantity (or @)-(or+ 9) =8-6 o represents the phase difference between the two simple har- monic motions; and if @~@= 0 (oran even multiple of 2), the Fig, 73. Points A and B execute simple harmonic motions with the same frequency @, The initial phases of A and B are @ and 6, respectively.+ Simple Harmonie Motion, Forced Vibrations, and Origin of Refractive Index 7 ‘motions are said to be in phase, and if 6 = 1 (or an odd multiple of m), the motions are said to be out of phase. If we choose a different origin of time, the quantities @ and 6 will change by the same additive constant; consequently, the phase difference ® ~ 6 is independent of the choice of the instant 1= 0. ‘Thus the displacement ofa particle, which executes simple harmonic motion, can be written as a sin («1+ 8) ®) ‘Therefore, the velocity and the acceleration of the particle are given by the following equations: ae + = axsc0s (or +8) o and o (io) Equation (10) shows that the acceleration of the particle is proportional tothe displacement, and the negative sign indicates that the acceleration is always directed toward the origin. Equation (10) can be used to define the simple harmonic motion as the motion of a particle in a straight line in which the acceleration is proportional to the dis- placement from a fixed point (on the straight line) and always directed toward the fixed point. (Here the point x= 0 is the fixed point and is usually referred to as the equilibrium position.) If we multiply Eg. (10) by the mass of the particle, then we obtain the following expression for the force acting on the particle f= mos or Pooky ay where k (= mo") is known as the force constant. We could hhave equally well started from Eq, (11) and obtained simple harmonic motion. This can be easily seen by noting that since the force is acting in the x direction, the equation of ‘motion will be (2) where «? = kim, The general solution of Eq, (12) ean be writ- ten in the form x= Asin ar + B cos or which can be rewritten in either of the following forms x =asin (ar +0) «aay «aay cos (wr + 8) as) which describes a simple harmonic motion. 7.21 Examples of Simple Harmonic Motion In this section we discuss three simple examples of simple harmonic motion, (@) The simple pendulum The simplest example of simple harmonic motion is the motion of the bob of a simple pendulum in the gravitational field. Ifthe bob of the pendu- lum is displaced slightly from the equilibrium position (see Fig. 7.4), then the forces acting on the bob are the gravita- tional force mg acting vertically downward and the tension 7, in the direction B’4. In the equilibrium position (4B) the tension is ‘equal and opposite to the gravitational force. However, in the displaced position the tension 7 is not in the direction of | the gravitational force; and if we resolve the gravitational force along the direction of the string and perpendicular to it, we see that the component mg cos 8 balances the ten- sion in the string and the component mg sin @ is the restoring A A ©) {a) The forces on the bob of the pendulum when it is displaced from its equilibrium position. The restoring force is F. which is equal to mg sin 8. (b) If the angle @ is small, the motion of the bob can be approximately assumed to be in a straight line. Fig. 7498 Optics force. The motion of the bob is along the are of acitcle but if the length of the pendulum is large and the angle @ is small, the motion can be assumed to be approximately in a straight line [see Fig. 7.4(b)]. Under such an approximation we may assume that this force is always directed toward point B and the magnitude of tis force will be! mg sin® = mez (16) ‘Thus the equation of motion will be a7 or as) where? = gi. Equation (18) is of the same form as Eq, (12); thus the motion of the bob is simple harmonie with its time period given by as) ‘The expression for the time period is fairly accurate (.e., the motion is approximately simple harmonic) as long asd <4°, We next consider the motion of two identical simple pendulums vibrating with the same amplitude a (see Fig. 7.5). Let, at r= 0, the bob of one of the pendulums be at its ex- treme right position, moving toward the right [Fig. 7.5(b)]. If ‘we measure the displacement from the equilibrium positions of the pendulums, then the displacements are given by % 20) sin ora cos | or 2 z/ ‘Thus the two bobs execute simple harmonic motion with a phase difference of m/2, and in fact the first pendulum is ahead in phase by 7/2. In Fig. 7.5(b), ifthe bob were moving toward the left, then the equation of motion would have been and then the second pendulum would have been ahead of phase by m/2. Since, in general, the displacement of the bob of the pendulum can be written as a.cos (ot + 6) ey the velocity of the particle is given by ds . = aa sin (or+9) @) ® © Fig. 75. (a) and (b) show the motion of two identical pen- dulums which are vibrating with the same amplitude but having a phase difference of x/2. ‘The small circles denote the position of the bobs att=0, Tush inet cng ofthe mas i “(ay a Lina (or) L 2 23) ‘Comparing Eqs. (21) and (23), we see that when the par- ticle is tits extreme positions, the kinetic energy is zero; and when the particle passes through the equilibrium position, the kinetic energy is maximum. At the extreme positions, the kinetic energy gets transformed to potential energy. From Fig. 7.4(a) it can immediately be seen that Potential energy = mgh = mgl (1 ~ cos 8) 20 = ml 2sin? all sin? e =2 mei{ 2 " (3) (@ measured in radians) = dmg) = 4nf 2 }.2 enol) (7) Lina? Smet en 1 in @? @ cos*(wr +6) (25) 2 where we have used the fact that a” = gil. The expression for potential energy could have been directly written down by noting that if the potential energies at v and at x + dv are V and V+ dV, then aw dy = thx dv 26) "Werle aasiming that is small so that sn 0 = 8, whore @is in sadians. The above approximation is valid for @ < 0.07 rad (= 4°)Simple Harmonie Motion, Forced Vibrations, and Origin of Refractive Index 99, Thus en where we have assumed the zero of the potential energy 10 be at x = 0. Thus the total energy £ is given by B=7+ =k mute 8) which, as expected, is independent of time. We can also see from Eq, (26) that the energy associated with the simple har- ‘monic motion is proportional to the square of the amplitude and the square of the frequency. (b) Vibrations of a mass held by two stretched springs Another simple example is the motion of a mass m, held by ‘wo stretched springs on a smooth table, as shown in Fig. 7.6. ‘The two springs are of natural length /, [Fig. 7.6(a)], and cor- responding to the equilibrium position of the mass, the lengths of the stretched springs are /. Ifthe mass is displaced slightly from the equilibrium position, then the resultant force acting on the mass will be F=K-2)~h) = -2kx +x) ~ ha} 29) where & represents the force constant of the spring. Once again we get a force which is proportional to the displace- ment and directed toward the equilibrium position, and consequently, the motion ofthe mass onthe frictionless table willbe simple harmonic. @ CO) ox © Fig. 76 Two springs of natural length [, [see (@)) are stretched to a length | [see (b)] to hold the mass. If the mass is displaced by a small distance x from its equilibrium position [see (c)], the mass will ex: cute simple harmonic motion, T Fig. 77. When a string clamped at both the ends is made to vibrate in its fundamental mode, all particles execute simple harmonic motions with the same frequency and same initial phase but having di ferent amplitudes (©) Vibrations of a stretched string When a stretched string (as in a sonometer) is made to vibrate in its fundamen- tal mode (see Fig. 7.7), then each point on the string executes simple harmonic motion with different amplitudes but having the same initial phase. The displacement can be written in the form y G0) sin{ Ex )eos or ‘The amplitude is therefore zero at x = 0 and at x = L and is ‘maximum at x = L/2. On the other hand, if the string is vibrating in its first harmonic, then each point on the first half of the string vibrates out of phase with each point on the other half. 7.3, DAMPED SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION In Sec. 7.2, we showed that for a particle executing simple harmonic motion (SHM), the equation of motion will be of the form ax + aBxt=0 Br aE Pax ep the solution of which is given by A) =A £08 (ot + 8) G2) where represents amplitude and «, the angular frequency of motion, Equation (32) tells us that the motion will con- tinue forever. However, we know that in actual practice the amplitude of any vibrating system (like that ofa tuning fork) keeps on decreasing, and eventually the system stops vibrat- ing. Similarly, the bob of a pendulum comes to rest after a certain time. This phenomenon is due to the presence of damping forces which come into play when the particle is in motion. For a vibrating pendulum, the damping forces are primarily due to the viscosity of the surrounding medium. Consequently, the damping forces will be much larger in liguids than in gases. In general, the exact dependence of100 Optics the damping force on the velocity of the particle is quite complicated; however, as a first approximation we may assume it to be proportional to the velocity of the par- ticle. This is also consistent with the fact that there are rno damping forces acting on the particle when itis at rest. In this model, the equation of motion will be given by mf ae where the constant I determines the strength of the damping force; the force constant is now denoted by ky to avoid con- fusion with the wave vector k. Equation (33) can be rewritten in the form @3) de TE fx G4) where @s) ‘To solve Eg, (34), we introduce a new variable &(1) which is defined by the x) = ide (36) Thus, de _ [de 1 HE Ke em S [ FeO} @ a ] and Se ox Six i ee On substitution in Eq. (34) we get + (OKIE =O 67) Equation (37) is similar to Ea (31); however, depending on the strength ofthe damping force, the quantity « ~ K® can be positive, negative, or zero. Consequently, we must con- sider three eases Case 1: 03 > the damping is small, ois greater than K?, and the solu tion of Eq, (37) is ofthe form 810 = A cos (fag— 18) G8) or (=e cos (fog —A* +8) 9) where 4 and @ are constants which are determined from the amplitude and phase ofthe motion at r= 0. Equation (39) rep- resents a damped simple harmonic motion (see Fig. 7.8). Notice that the amplitude decreases exponentially with time Fig. 78 The exponential decrease of amplitude in a damped simple harmonic motion. The figure cor- on 055! responds to sand and the time period of vibration (-29/, ee ~K*) is greater than in the absence of damping. Case 2: > If the damping is too large, K? is greater than 3, and Eq, (37) should be written inthe form a «we ode =0 0) a the solution of which is given by 509 4 exp fk*= 0% t) + Bexp(-Y 05 +) an) ww Aexp [Les le=e3).) Beso [(-« =o) and we can have two kinds of motion; one in which the dis placement decreases uniformly to zero or the other in which the displacement first increases, reaches a maximum, and then decreases to zero (see Fig. 7.9). In either case there are no oscillations, and the motion is said to be overdamped or dead beat. Atypical example is the motion of a simple pen- dulum in a highly viscous liquid (such as glycerine) where the pendulum can hardly complete a fraction of the vibration before coming to rest. (2) (3)Simple Harmonie Motion, Forced Vibrations, and Origin of Refractive Index 101 ° 0 z 4 te) The variation of displacement with time in an overdamped motion. The solid and the dashed curves correspond to B = 0 and B= -A/2, re- spectively [see Eq. (42)]. In carrying out the Calculations we have assumed K= 28) and (Fre ate! the solution of which is given by Ba a+ 8 “4 Thus x) = (r+ Be™ (45) ‘The motion is again nonoscillatory and is said to corre- spond to critical damping. 74 FORCED VIBRATIONS We consider the effect of a periodic sinusoidal force (see also Sec. 8.3) on the motion of a vibrating system. Ifthe fe- quency ofthe external force is, then the equation of motion is [of Eq. G3): 46) ak Foos or TE fge ‘where the first term on the RHS represents the external force; the other terms are the same as in Eq. (33). Equation (46) is rewritten in the form? &x = where G = Fim and the other symbols were defined in See. 7.3, For the particular solution of Eq, (47) we try ” 48) +2K H+ asin = Gos 2k & + ax() = Geos ov an Nolice thatthe RHS of Eq, (49) is independent of x; such an equation is sid to be an inom type given by Eq, (34) is said to be homogeneous. ‘Thus, aq sin (01 ~ 0) and aa? cos («1 ~ 6) Ee Substituting the above forms for(), dvd, and xa? in Eq, (47), we obtain 60s (oY ~@) ~ 2Kato sin (or ~ 9) + a8 60s (0-9) Gcos[(or-9) + 6] a) ‘where we have written G cos «or as G cos [(or ~ 6) + 6] Thus, 4 (@3 ~ 6°) cos (1-6) ~ 2Kaw sin (oF ~ 9) = Geos (or 0) cos @~G sin (or @)sin@ (80) For Eq, (S0) to be valid for all values of time, we must have 61) 2Kaw = Gsing 2) If we square and add, we get 3) Further 2Ko 4) Since K, , and a are positive, ¢ is uniquely determined by noting that sn @ should be postive; ie, @ must bein ether the first or the second quadrant ‘To the solution given by Eq, (48), we must add the solu- tion ofthe homogeneous equation, Eq. (34). Thus, assuming (03 to be greater than K® (i., weak damping), the general solution of Eq. (47) will be ofthe form x= 40 eas JOE—H 1-0) + aos (or) 8) ‘The first term on the RHS represents the transient solu- tion corresponding to the natural vibrations of the system which eventually die out. The second term represents the steady-state solution which corresponds to the forced vibra- tions imposed by the extemal force. Notice that the frequency of the forced vibrations is the same as that of the ‘external fore. geneous equation, An equation of the102 Optics 7.4.1 Resonance ‘The amplitude of the forced vibration G 66) [(o3 0 +ax%0? | dlepends on the frequency ofthe driving force and is a maxi- ‘mum when (0 -@*)? + 4X70? isa minimum, ie, when 4 2 ght vantoh Fale oFF +4480 or 208 -«F)(-20) + 8K? or 67) ‘Thus the amplitude is maximum’ when a is given by Bq, (57). This is known as amplitude resonance. When damp- ing is extremely small, the resonance occurs at a frequency os K=0 oa 1G 02 — oe) Fig. 710 The variation of amplitude with the frequency of the external driving force for various values of K. The calculations correspond to @)= 5 !, and the values of K are ia Notice that with an increase fn damping the resonance occurs at a smaller value of 0. “There fs no resonance condition when. K® 00 25 30 75 oe) — Fig. 7.11 The dependence of the phase of the forced vibra- tion on the frequency of the driving force. very close to the natural frequency of the system. The varia- tion of the amplitude with a is shown in Fig. 7.10. Notice that as the damping decreases, the maximum becomes very sharp and the amplitude falls off rapidly as we go away from the resonance. The maximum value of a is given by 6 [ew +4103 (207 /o G G ‘Thus, with increase in damping, the maximum oceurs at lower values of o and the resonance becomes less sharp. ‘To discuss the phase of the forced vibrations, we refer to Eq, (54) from where we find that for small damping the phase angle is small unless it is near resonance. For «=, tan = © and @ is W/2; ie. the phase of forced vibrations is n/2 ‘ahead of the phase of the driving force. As the frequency of | the driving force is increased beyond «, the phase also in- ‘ereases and approaches x (see Fig. 7.11), ‘All the salient features of forced vibrations can be easily demonstrated by means of an arrangement shown in Fig. 7.12. In the figure, AC is a metal rod with a movable bob B, and LMis a simple pendulum with a bob at Mf The metal rod and the simple pendulum are suspended from a string PO, as shown in Fig. 7.12. With B at the bottom, when the rod AC is set in motion, the pendulum LIM also vibrates. As the bob B is moved upward, the time period decreases, the frequency of the rod becomes closer to the natural frequency (58)Simple Harmonie Motion, Forced Vibrations, and Origin of Refractive Index 103 ° c Fig 712 An arrangement for demonstration of forced vibrations, of the simple pendulum, and eventually the resonance condi- tion is satisfied. At resonance, the amplitude of vibration of the simple pendulum is maximum, and the phase difference between the vibrations is nearly 7/2: ie., when the metal rod is at its lowest position and moving toward the right, the simple pendulum is at the extreme left position. Ifthe bob B is further moved upward, the frequency increases and the amplitude of the forced vibrations decreases. 7.5 ORIGIN OF REFRACTIVE INDEX In this section we study the origin ofthe refractive index. We know that an atom consists of a heavy positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons. In the simplest model of the atom, the electrons are assumed to be bound elastically 10 their rest positions; thus, when these electrons are displaced by an electric field, a restoring force (proportional to the dis- placement) will act on the electrons that will tend to return the electrons to their rest positions. In this model, the equa- tion of motion for the electron, in the presence of an external electric field B, would be gE 69) te (6) where x represents the position ofthe electton, m and —q represent the mass and charge, respectively, of the electron (q = +1.6 x 10°"? C), ky is the force constant, and «05 (= ff?) represents the frequency ofthe oscillator. We Notice tha i the absence of damping ( when P= 0), 6= 0: E= ££, cos (kz ~ 01) @ ice, the field is inthe x direction having an amplitude E, and propagating in the +: direction; & represents the unit vector in the x direction; and k= 2n/, with 2, representing the wave- length. ‘Thus @x oo, aba FS 4 apy =~ 40 cos (ke ~ wn C3 a (ke on) (62) where we have replaced the vectors by the corresponding scalar quantities because the displacement and the electric field are in the same direction. Except for the damping tem, similar to Eq. (46), and therefore the solution cor- to the forced vibrations will be given by* aE n(oy —0") x cos (Kz - an) @) In the simplest model of the atom, the center of the nega- tive charge (due to the electrons) is assumed to be at the center of the nucleus. In the presence of an electtic field, the center of the negative charge gets displaced from the nucleus which results in a finite value of the dipole moment of the atom. In particular, if we have a positive charge +g at the origin and a negative charge -g at a distance x, then the dipole moment is -gx; thus, if there are N’ dispersion elec- trons® per unit volume, then the polarization (i.e., dipole ‘moment per unit volume) is given by (ot) where x (65) is known as the electric susceptibility of the material. The dielectric permittivity is therefore given by (see Sec. 23.9) eH ey th (66) or fa14— o % | me -0 Now, e/y is the dielectric constant, which is equal to the square of the refractive index (see Chap. 23). Thus. (68) ce Fg. (54). “The number of dispersion clectzons ina molecule of a ideal gas isthe valence numberof the molecules, This number is 2 for 6 for Nz, te104 Optics showing that the refractive index depends on the frequency; this is known as dispersion, Assuming that the characteristic frequency ay lies in the far ultraviolet (see Eq. (74)}° the e in the entire visible re- quantity (1% fog) ' is posit gion. Further, as @ increases, n? also increases, ie., the refractive index increases with frequency; this is known as normal dispersion. If we further assume ¢o/y << 1, then. and 9) megan mean Ay 7 c/enis the free space wavelength, Equation (69) (7) which is the well-known Cauchy relation. For hydrogen, the experimental variation of n° with hy is approximately given by 24x10 Me where the wavelength is measured in meters; the above ‘numbers correspond to 0°C and 76 cm Hg (see Ref. 9). Thus, m= 1 +2721 x 104+ am oN) and 1110? 3) fwe divide Eq, (73) by Eq. (72), we would get ae _ 21x10" o | 2x10 oo 15 gt or Snax 0's (sy Th + which is indeed in the ultraviolet region. We can eliminate oy from Eqs. (72) and (73) to obtain Ng Gee em Now at NTP, 22,400 cm’ of H, contains 6 x 10" molecules; thus, x10! m? (75) where the factor 2 arises from the fact that a hydrogen molecule consists of two electrons. Hence, Ng? 4 eg . 5x10 x (16x10) Dew x91 XB SSHIO OL IO™ =4x10! m2 which qualitatively agrees with Eq. (75). We note that for a gas of free electrons (as we have in the upper atmosphere), there is no restoring force and we must set «, = 0. Thus the expression for the reffactive index be- comes [see Eq, (67)] ig 76) ‘where V represents the density of free electrons. Equation (75) shows thatthe refiactive index is less than unity; however, this does not imply that one ean send signals faster than the speed ‘of light in fre space (see Chap. 10). To quote Feynman: For five electrons, ay = 0 (there is no elastic restoring force). Setting & = 0 in our dispersion equation yields the correct formula for the index of reffaction for riowaves in the stratosphere, where {Vis now to represent the density of free electrons (umber per unit volume) in the stratosphere. But Jet us look again at the equation, if we beam X-rays on the matter, or radiowaves (or any electric ‘waves) on fee electrons, the tem (03 - 0°) become negative, and we obtain the result that nis less than one, That means that the effective speed of the waves in the substance is faster than! Can that be comect? It is correct. In spite of the fact that itis also Follows from the fact that according to classical electrodynamics, an oscillating dipole vibrating with frequency a will radiate electromagnetic waves with frequency 0; and as an example, if we consider hydrogen, then fy = 13.6 eV from which we ‘obtain a, = 2x 10! = This frequency corresponds to the far ultraviolet.