JEE Main & Advanced Physics Simple Harmonic Motion Question Bank Critical Thinking

  • question_answer
    A particle of mass m is executing oscillations about the origin on the x-axis. Its potential energy is \[U(x)=k{{[x]}^{3}}\], where k is a positive constant. If the amplitude of oscillation is a, then its time period T is                                              [IIT-JEE 1998]

    A)            Proportional to \[\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}}\]                            

    B)            Independent of a

    C)            Proportional to \[\sqrt{a}\]   

    D)            Proportional to \[{{a}^{3/2}}\]

    Correct Answer: A

    Solution :

                       \[U=k|x{{|}^{3}}\Rightarrow F==-\frac{dU}{dx}=-3k|x{{|}^{2}}\]       ...(i)                     Also, for SHM \[x=a\sin \omega \,t\] and \[\frac{{{d}^{2}}x}{d{{t}^{2}}}+{{\omega }^{2}}x=0\]                      \[\Rightarrow \]acceleration \[=\frac{{{d}^{2}}x}{d{{t}^{2}}}=-{{\omega }^{2}}x\Rightarrow F=ma\]                     \[=m\frac{{{d}^{2}}x}{d{{t}^{2}}}=-m{{\omega }^{2}}x\]                                ...(ii)                     From equation (i) & (ii) we get \[\omega =\sqrt{\frac{3kx}{m}}\]                    \[\Rightarrow T=\frac{2\pi }{\omega }=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{m}{3kx}}=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{m}{3k(a\sin \omega \,t)}}\]\[\Rightarrow T\propto \frac{1}{\sqrt{a}}\].


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