Oscillations |
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Oscillations are plentiful in our natural world - we see them everywhere!
Oscillation is the natural worlds way of returning a system to its equilibrium position - the stable position of the system where the net force acting on it is zero. If you throw a system off-balance, it doesnt simply return to the way it was; it oscillates back and forth about the equilibrium position. The system oscillates as a way of giving off energy. A system that is oscillating has been given extra energy by some outside force - it has more energy than a system in its equilibrium position. The movement of an oscillating body is called 'harmonic motion'.
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