periodic motion, in physics, motion repeated in equal intervals of time. Periodic motion is performed, for example, by a rocking chair, a bouncing ball, a vibrating tuning fork, a swing in motion, the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, and a water wave. In each case the interval of time for a repetition, or cycle, of the motion is called a period, while the number of periods per unit time is called the frequency. Thus, the period of the Earth’s orbit is one year, and its frequency is one orbit per year. A tuning fork might have a frequency of 1,000 cycles per second and a period of 1 millisecond (1 thousandth of a second).

Simple harmonic motion is a special case of periodic motion. In the examples given above, the rocking chair, the tuning fork, the swing, and the water wave execute simple harmonic motion, but the bouncing ball and the Earth in its orbit do not.

Waves that can be represented by sine curves are periodic. If the wave is propagated with a velocity v and has a wavelength λ, then the period T is equal to wavelength divided by velocity, or T= λ/v. The frequency f is the reciprocal of the period; thus, f = 1/T = v/λ.