Exploring the Spring-Mass system: Simulation 1 - Spring Force and SHM in horizontal spring

Let's explore and understand the simplest example of oscillation - a horizontal spring-mass system.
Instructions for launching the simulation

  1. Clickhere to view the simulation.
  2. You will see the simulation called 'Spring force F=-k*x':

Instructions for exploring the simulation

  1. In the left half of the simulation screen, you can see a block of mass m lying on a frictionless surface and attached to a horizontal spring. The vertical line passing through the center of the block with a blue square represents the equilibrium position of the spring-mass system. This is the position of the mass, when the spring is neither stretched nor compressed, and as a result has its normal length. Thus, this represents the origin (x=0, y=0) of our reference frame for measuring the displacement of the mass from its equilibrium position.
  2. In the right half of the simulation screen, you can see a graph.
  3. The x-axis represents the time t in seconds.
  4. The y-axis by default plots the displacement of the mass m from the equilibrium position in BLACK.
  5. When you select the checkbox for Force, the spring’s restoring force F is plotted in BLUE.
  6. When you select the checkbox for ‘Velocity’, the velocity v of the mass is plotted in RED.
  7. When you mouse-over the block, a hand-symbol will appear. Left-click and drag to pull the block away from its equilibrium position and let go of the mouse to release the mass and set it into oscillation. You can know the amplitude (maximum displacement) of the block's oscillation by noting the maximum or minimum value of the y axis of the graph. The 'play' button will change to 'pause' and the graph will show a real-time plot of displacement vs. time as a black curve.
  8. You can click on 'pause' button to pause the simulation so that you can examine the graph in detail and note down your observations. The 'pause' button then changes to a 'play' button.
  9. You can click on the 'play' button to resume the simulation.
  10. You can click on the 'reset' button to bring the block back to its initial position so that you can repeat the experiment for a new value of initial displacement of the block (also known as the AMPLITUDE).