Question

If the spring constant of a simple harmonic oscillator is doubled, by what factor will the mass of the system need to change in order for the frequency of the motion to remain the same?

a) 0.25
b) 0.50
c) 2.00
d) 4.00

Answer 1

The mass of the system needs to change by a factor of 0.5.

Step-by-step explanation:

When the spring constant of a simple harmonic oscillator is doubled, the frequency of the motion remains the same if the mass of the system is halved. This means that the mass of the system needs to change by a factor of 0.5 in order to keep the frequency constant.