Description
The Spring Mass Vibrations Apparatus is a bench top mounted unit to analyze the oscillations of a spring mass system. The sturdy bench top base secures two vertical guides in a vertical plane. A top horizontal bracket keeps the bars at a near constant width. The near constant width aids the running on a cradle which runs up and down the bars. The cradle runs on precision bearings which creates minimal friction. The cradle attaches to one end of a helical tension spring of known wire diameter, free length, spring rate. At the other end of the spring an adjustable screw mechanism adjusts the length of the spring and hence it’s starting position. The cradle has its own self weight, but additionally a number of calibrated weights can be added to the cradle in order to vary the oscillating mass. The cradle vertical motion is transferred to a rotating drum recorder mounted with paper. The oscillations of the cradle can be free or damped. The damped
