Mass on a spring

To slow down the motion, set the spring constant to a small value.

The mass of the block is 1.0 kg.
The positive direction is to the right. The equilibrium position is indicated by the thin blue rectangle.

Things to think about:

• Does the law of conservation of energy apply here?
• How does the initial displacement from the equilibrium position affect the total energy? How does it affect the maximum speed of the block?
• Where does the block reach its maximum speed? In what form is the energy (how much potential and how much kinetic) at this point?
• Is there any connection between the direction of the displacement and the direction of the acceleration (the acceleration indicates the direction of the force applied by the spring on the block)?
• Is the frequency of the motion affected by the initial displacement? How does it depend on the spring constant?

Created by Andrew Duffy, Boston University Physics Department.

Last update October 6, 1998