地球の自転速度における昼間と半日の変動は,海洋の潮によって引き起こされる

While simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion may be two separate concepts, they correlate and interlink with each other. Simple harmonic motion is an oscillatory motion in a system where the net force can be described by Hooke's law, while uniform circular motion is the motion of an object in a circular path at constant speed.
There is an easy way to produce simple harmonic motion by using uniform circular motion. For instance, consider a ball attached to a uniformly rotating...

Since all objects on the Earth's surface move through a circle every 24 hours, there must be a net centripetal force on each object, directed towards the center of that circle. The points of the north and south poles are the only exception to this rule.
For an object on the Earth's equator, the net centripetal force that accounts for its rotation is the Earth's pull towards its center, or the weight minus the normal force that prevents it from piercing into the Earth's surface. This force,...

An object's apparent weight is its weight measured by a spring balance at its location. It is different from its true weight, the force with which the Earth pulls it, because of the Earth's rotation. Mathematically, an object's apparent weight equals its true weight minus the centripetal force that keeps it in a circular motion along with the Earth's surface every 24 hours.
The difference between the true and apparent weights is proportional to the square of the Earth's angular speed. Since the...

Precession can be demonstrated effectively through a spinning top. If a spinning top is placed on a flat surface near the surface of the Earth at a vertical angle and is not spinning, it will fall over due to the force of gravity producing a torque acting on its center of mass. However, if the top is spinning on its axis, it precesses about the vertical direction, rather than topple over due to this torque. Precessional motion is a combination of a steady circular motion of the axis and the...

In the real world, oscillations seldom follow true simple harmonic motion. A system that continues its motion indefinitely without losing its amplitude is termed undamped. However, friction of some sort usually dampens the motion, so it fades away or needs more force to continue. For example, a guitar string stops oscillating a few seconds after being plucked. Similarly, one must continually push a swing to keep a child swinging on a playground.
Although friction and other non-conservative...