# Oscillation

**Track:** Physics, Motion & Emergence — Creative Coding — the existing 50
**Framework / surface:** p5.js
**Level:** Intermediate
**Prerequisites:** none

**In one line:** Smooth back-and-forth motion from a sine wave.

## Theory, aesthetics & inspiration

Oscillation is motion that returns: a value swinging endlessly between two bounds, traced by the sine function. Mathematically it is the shadow of uniform circular motion projected onto a line—an angle advancing steadily while its sine rises and falls. This is simple harmonic motion, the same pattern governing a pendulum or a mass on a spring, and the parameters of amplitude, period, and phase tune its character. The aesthetic is breath and pulse: the gentle, predictable life of things that sway, bob, and wave. Layered and detuned, many sine waves compound into the complex rhythms underlying sound, ripples, and the appearance of organic ease.