Box floating in a liquid and undergoing simple harmonic motion

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a box floating in a liquid that is pushed down and released, leading to oscillation. Participants are exploring how to determine the period of this oscillation, which falls under the subject area of simple harmonic motion (SHM).

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are discussing the relationship between restoring force and displacement in SHM, particularly how buoyancy changes with depth. There are attempts to formulate an equation that relates force and displacement, and questions arise regarding the incorporation of parameters like period (T) and spring constant (k).

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided insights into the forces acting on the box and are attempting to derive equations that could lead to the period of oscillation. There is an ongoing exploration of the relationships between buoyancy, displacement, and the dynamics of the system, with no explicit consensus reached yet.

Contextual Notes

Participants are considering the effects of buoyancy and displacement in their equations, but there may be constraints related to the assumptions about the system's behavior and the definitions of the variables involved.

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Homework Statement


A box is floating in a liquid. It is pushed down then released to oscillate. How do I determine the period of this oscillation?

No idea where to go with this one.


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution

 
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What form of eqn for SHM usually appear in and on what is it based?

Here the restoring force is related to displacement: First consider the dipping portion of the diaplacement--what happens to buoyancy as a funtion of depth--put in terms of delta h; when bobbing up the distance between center of mass for neutral buoyancy and the actual Y displacement is now the PE, but instead of thinking of as mgy, it might be best to consider an "excess" of buoyancy. In other words, develop an equation that related forse and displacement--from SHO this and mass should lead to period--ie look for an eqn using T, k, m
 


Ok, so I have that the extra buoyancy force would be the density of the liquid times volume of the extra displacement times g. However, I'm not seeing where T or k would come in.
 


Here is what comes to mind:

Force= ma=-(pho)*area*(Xo+[tex]\Delta[/tex]x)-mg where mg is the weight of the object.

Let Xo be the displacement leading to neutral buoyancy--ie -(pho)A*Xo + mg = 0

Then a = -Pho*area([tex]\Delta[/tex]x)/m

d[tex]^{2}[/tex]y/dt[tex]^{2}[/tex]=-k/m*([tex]\Delta[/tex]x)

Look familiar?
 

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