svingningene

Svingningene is the definite plural form of svingning in Norwegian, commonly translated as oscillations or swings. In scientific and everyday language, it refers to periodic motions around an equilibrium position. The term is used across disciplines—from physics and engineering to seismology and acoustics—to describe repeating fluctuations in time.

In physics and engineering, svingninger describe systems that return cyclically toward a reference state after a disturbance. The archetype is the simple harmonic oscillator, described by equations such as m x'' + c x' + k x = 0. Key parameters are the amplitude, the period T, the frequency f, and the angular frequency ω = 2πf. Damping causes decay, and external driving can produce resonant oscillations.

Applications include mechanical springs and pendulums, electrical LC circuits, sound waves in air, and seismic waves in the Earth's crust. Analyzing svingninger typically involves differential equations and Fourier analysis to resolve complex motion into constituent frequencies.

Historically, the study of oscillations lies at the heart of classical mechanics and wave theory, with foundational work by scientists such as Hooke, Huygens, and Fourier shaping later treatments. In Norwegian technical literature, svingninger are described with the same mathematical frameworks used worldwide.

See also oscillation, simple harmonic motion, damping, Fourier analysis.