In 1831, soldiers marched across the Broughton Bridge in England in “lock step”—that is, marching in time together. As they marched, the bridge began to bounce in time with their footsteps; the amplitude of this bouncing became larger and larger until the bridge suddenly collapsed. Explain why the lock step of the soldiers caused this collapse and why afterward soldiers were ordered to “break step,” or march at their own individual rates, as they crossed bridges.
From the theory of Forced Harmonic Oscillator, we know that for a certain value of driving frequency (frequency of external periodic force applied on the oscillator,in this case frequency of lock step of the soldiers) the amplitude of the oscillating system(in this case amplitude of the oscillation of bridge) is maximum.This phenomenon is called Amplitude Resonance and this frequency is known as Resonant Frequency. In order to avoid the amplitude resonance (because this will cause breakage of bridge) soldiers were ordered to break step.
In 1831, soldiers marched across the Broughton Bridge in England in “lock step”—that is, marching in time together. As they marched, the bridge began to bounce in time with their footsteps; the amplit...
In 1831, soldiers marched across the Broughton Bridge in England in "lock step"-that is, marching in time together. As they marched, the bridge began to bounce in time with their footsteps; the amplitude of this bouncing became larger and larger until the bridge suddenly collapsed. Part A Explain why the lock step of the soldiers caused this collapse and why afterward soldiers were ordered to "break step," or march at their own individual rates, as they crossed bridges. Match the...