Day+21


 * Circular motion and Simple Harmonic Motion.**

As a preparation it will pay you to look at the idea of radians if you haven't done so before:

For circular motion I can't find a more readable introduction than Physics Classroom. For a simple introduction to the ideas in Simple Harmonic Motion this site from Salford University is quite readable. (On a more thorough search for useful resources, this remains the best I've found. It takes a little concentration but it's reasonably comprehensive and easier to understand than most sources)

If you find this cartoon from XKCD amusing then you're probably starting to think like a physicist.

If you're planning on using this as part of your final assignment, I stumbled across this article that you might find interesting:

Resources for the day:

Notes. The big challenge for a lot of students is the maths. It helps enormously to see why we lump SHM and circular motion together - this page from the Aussie Physclips site has some really nice animations that illustrate this - just scroll down a tiny bit. Simple Harmonic Motion is typical of the ideas covered in A Level physics in that it examines a real life situation and then attempts to model it mathematically. One of the keys to this is understanding the nature of the relationship between displacement, velocity and acceleration. //Areas to follow up: natural and driving frequency, energy in SHM - derivation, harmonic vibration.//