Discussion

Simple Harmonic Motion

A spring with a mass of 2 kg has natural length 0.5 m. A force of 25.6 N is required to maintain
it stretched to a length of 0.7 m. If the spring is stretched to a length of 0.7 m and then released
with initial velocity 0, find the position of the mass at any time.

The motion is governed by

𝑚 2𝑚
𝑚 + 𝑚𝑚= 0
𝑚𝑚 2

From Hooke’s Law, the force required to stretch the spring is

so the spring constant,

𝑚 (0.2) = 25.6
so the spring constant,

25.6
𝑚= = 128
0.2

Using this value of k together with m = 2 in Equation (3), we have

𝑚 2𝑚
2 + 128𝑚 = 0
𝑚𝑚2

The solution of this equation is 𝑚(𝑚) = 𝑚1 𝑚𝑚𝑚 8𝑚 + 𝑚2 𝑚𝑚𝑚 8𝑚

Given the initial condition 𝑚(0) = 0.2

𝑚(0) = 𝑚1 = 0.2

Differentiating Equation, we get

𝑚′(𝑚) = −8𝑚1 𝑚𝑚𝑚 8𝑚+ 8C2 cos 8t

Since the initial velocity is 𝑚′(0) = 0 ,we have 𝑚2 = 0and so the solution is
 1
𝑚(𝑚) = 𝑚𝑚𝑚 8𝑚
5

Damped Motion

Suppose that the spring of example 1 is immersed in a fluid with damping constant . Find the
position of the mass at any time t if it starts from the equilibrium position and is given a push to
start it with an initial velocity of 0.6 m/s.

From Example 1 the mass is m = 2 and the spring constant is k = 128 , so the differential
equation (5) becomes

2
𝑚 𝑚 𝑚𝑚
+ 20 + 64𝑚 = 0
𝑚𝑚2 𝑚𝑚

2
The auxiliary equation is 𝑚 + 20𝑚 + 64 = (𝑚 + 4)(𝑚 + 16) = 0

𝑚 = −4 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 = −16

so the motion is overdamped and the solution is

−4𝑚 −16𝑚
𝑚(𝑚) = 𝑚1𝑚 − 𝑚2𝑚

We are given that 𝑚(0) = 0 𝑚𝑚 𝑚1 + 𝑚2 = 0

Differentiating,
−4𝑚 −16𝑚
𝑚′(𝑚) = −4𝑚1𝑚 − 16𝑚𝑚
𝑚′(0) = −4𝑚1 − 16𝑚2 = 0.6

Since C2 = -c1, this gives 12C1 = 0.6

C1 = 0.05

−4𝑚 −16𝑚
𝑚(𝑚) = 0.05(𝑚 −𝑚 )