Resonance

• Resonance is when an object is exposed to vibrations of a frequency equal to their own resonant frequency

  If amplitude becomes too high and the resonant frequency is met the object can be destroyed
• Natural/Resonant Frequency: the specific frequency that an object tends to vibrate at
• Forcing Frequency: the frequency of the force applied to an oscillating object
• For resonance to occur forcing frequency must equal natural frequency and has two effects:

  • the amplitude of the oscillations within the resonating object dramatically increase
  • the maximum possible energy from the source creating the forced vibration is transferred into the resonating object
• A negative effect of resonance is that in mechanical systems it can cause screws and ropes to loosen ultimately ending in a tregedy