Simple Harmonic Motion
Position, velocity, and acceleration of an oscillator
About this calculator
The Simple Harmonic Motion Calculator finds the instantaneous position, velocity, and acceleration of an oscillator described by x(t) = A·cos(ωt + φ). Enter the amplitude, angular frequency, phase angle, and time to get the displacement x(t) = A·cos(ωt + φ), velocity v(t) = −Aω·sin(ωt + φ), and acceleration a(t) = −ω²·x(t), along with the period, frequency, maximum speed, and maximum acceleration. Every value is computed with 30-digit precision and the curve shows where the oscillator is at the chosen moment. Useful for physics homework, springs, pendulums in the small-angle limit, and any oscillating system.
Common examples
- A = 1 m, ω = 1 rad/s, φ = 0°, t = 0 s → x = 1 m, v = 0 m/s, a = −1 m/s²
- A = 2 m, ω = 3 rad/s, φ = 0°, t = 0 s → x = 2 m, v = 0 m/s, a = −18 m/s²
- A = 1 m, ω = 2 rad/s, φ = 90°, t = 0 s → x = 0 m, v = −2 m/s, a = 0 m/s²
- ω = 2π rad/s → period T = 1 s, frequency f = 1 Hz
- A = 0.5 m, ω = 4 rad/s → max speed 2 m/s, max acceleration 8 m/s²