The tool below drills them from your notes.
WeSolve+ reads the whole document and writes the questions for you
Upload your PDF, photograph your notebook, or point the camera. WeSolve+ writes questions from that material, explains why each answer is right, reads the chapter back to you as a podcast, and remembers every item you missed until you own it.
The tool below is a small browser-only tool and it is not WeSolve+: paste a few lines and text rules turn them into cards on the spot. The real app, the one that uses AI, is behind the link above.
Unit 7 oscillation terms, from your own notes
This is a browser-only tool, and that is all it isIt splits the text you paste by rule, and nothing else. WeSolve+ is a different thing entirely: it reads your whole PDF with AI, writes the reasoning behind every question, speaks the chapter back to you, and remembers what you missed so it can return it. Try the real app now, free!
Paste a passage and the rules return cards from it. The course outline is invisible to the tool, so completeness is decided before you press the button.
The defining condition is one sentence, so state it first
Simple harmonic motion requires a restoring force proportional to displacement, pointing toward equilibrium, which Hooke's law springs satisfy exactly and pendulums satisfy at small angles. Questions asking whether a motion is SHM are asking whether that condition holds, and the answer cites the force law rather than the shape of the motion.
The period formulas are famous for what they exclude
A spring's period is two pi root m over k; a pendulum's is two pi root L over g. Amplitude appears in neither, and mass is missing from the pendulum's. The exam plants exactly these absences: double the amplitude, same period; heavier pendulum bob, same period; the Moon's weaker g, slower swing.
Energy sloshes, and the extremes are the bookkeeping anchors
At maximum displacement the energy sits entirely in potential form, spring stretch or pendulum height; passing through equilibrium it is entirely kinetic. Total energy scales with amplitude squared, which is why doubling amplitude quadruples the energy while leaving the period alone. Energy bar chart questions are this paragraph drawn as rectangles.
The graphs are phase shifted copies, so learn the offsets
Position, velocity and acceleration are sinusoids a quarter cycle apart: velocity peaks where position crosses zero, and acceleration mirrors position with opposite sign, largest exactly at the turnaround points where velocity vanishes. Given one graph, the exam asks for another, and the offsets answer without any computation.
The trap bank is small, so rehearse it explicitly
Double the mass on a spring and the period grows by root two; shorten a pendulum to a quarter length and the period halves; take either system to the Moon and only the pendulum notices. Each trap is one substitution into a formula, and rehearsing them as a set converts the unit's hardest multiple choice into recognition.
What to photograph for Oscillations
Your SHM graphs and energy charts. Related: Unit 5, photo to quiz and pricing.
Sources used on this page
- College Board, AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
- Simple harmonic motion
- Pendulum
- Hooke's law
- Oscillation
- Active recall
- Spaced repetition
- Testing effect
- Forgetting curve
- Generation effect
- Judgment of learning
- Metacognition
- Desirable difficulty
- Distributed practice
- Formative assessment
- Flashcard
- Cloze test
- Multiple choice
- Test (assessment)
- Educational assessment
- Advanced Placement
- Curriculum
- Study skills
- Study guide
- Note-taking
- Overlearning
- Instructional scaffolding
- Item analysis
- Mastery learning
| Change made | Spring system | Pendulum |
|---|---|---|
| Double the amplitude | Period unchanged | Period unchanged |
| Double the mass | Period times root two | Period unchanged |
| Quarter the length | Not applicable | Period halves |
| Stiffer spring, k doubled | Period over root two | Not applicable |
| Move to the Moon | Period unchanged | Period grows |
| Double amplitude's energy | Quadrupled, amplitude squared | Quadrupled, amplitude squared |
What does AP Physics 1 Unit 7 cover?
Simple harmonic motion: springs and pendulums, period formulas, energy exchange and the position, velocity and acceleration graphs.
What makes a motion simple harmonic?
A restoring force proportional to displacement, pointing toward equilibrium. Springs satisfy it exactly; pendulums at small angles.
Why does amplitude not affect the period?
Larger swings travel farther but move faster in exact proportion, so the round trip time stays fixed. Both period formulas omit amplitude.
Why does a heavier pendulum swing at the same rate?
Gravity accelerates all masses equally, so mass cancels; the period depends only on length and g.
Where is acceleration largest in SHM?
At the extremes, where displacement peaks and velocity is zero. Acceleration mirrors position with opposite sign.
Can I build questions from my own Unit 7 notes?
Yes. Upload the chapter as a PDF or photograph the pages, and every question comes from those pages rather than from the wider syllabus.
Last updated: 2026-08-15