Energy

of a Simple Harmonic Oscillator

The energy of a simple harmonic oscillator changes from one kind to another but the total energy remains the same.

Etot = KE + PE = constant

Etot = (1/2) m v2 + (1/2) k x2 = constant

This will be true of all simple harmonic oscillators. Another example is that of a simple pendulum, shown here:

SHM

UCM
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(c) 2005, Doug Davis; all rights reserved