The simplest mechanical oscillating system is a weight attached to a linear spring subject to only weight and tension. Such a system may be approximated on an air table or ice surface. The system is in an See more

In two or three dimensions, harmonic oscillators behave similarly to one dimension. The simplest example of this is an See more

In addition, an oscillating system may be subject to some external force, as when an AC circuit is connected to an outside power source. In this case … See more

As the number of degrees of freedom becomes arbitrarily large, a system approaches continuity; examples include a string or the surface of a body of water. Such systems have … See more

All real-world oscillator systems are thermodynamically irreversible. This means there are dissipative processes such as See more

The harmonic oscillator and the systems it models have a single degree of freedom. More complicated systems have more degrees of freedom, for example, two masses and three springs (each mass being attached to fixed points and to each other). In such … See more

The mathematics of oscillation deals with the quantification of the amount that a sequence or function tends to move between extremes. There are several related notions: … See more