periodic motion, in physics, motion repeated in equal intervals of time. Periodic motion is performed, for example, by a rocking chair, a bouncing ball, a vibrating tuning fork, a swing in motion, the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, and a water wave. In each case the interval of time for a repetition, or cycle, of the motion is called a period, while the number of periods per unit time is called the frequency. Thus, the period of the Earth’s orbit is one year, and its frequency is one orbit per year. A tuning fork might have a frequency of 1,000 cycles per second and a period of 1 millisecond (1 thousandth of a second).