Approaching Simple Harmonic Motion Amplitude Calculation

[sopi]

Hello, I was wondering if I am approaching the following problem correctly:

"A block is on a piston that is moving vertically with simple harmonic motion.
At what amplitude of motion will the block and the piston separate if the period of the piston is 1.18 s?"

I am currently doing the following:

We know F = ma must be less than F= mg. We also know:
a = acceleration = (2pi x frequency)^2 times A(max amplitude).

So then we sub 'a' into 'ma < mg' and solve for amplitude A. Is this correct?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[member 553083]

Yes, this is a correct approach to solve the problem. You can use the values given to calculate the acceleration and then solve for the amplitude.