Coupled Oscillations - Air Track



content.gif (1503 bytes)
 Code Number :   3A75.10  

Disclaimer:

Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website.

The demonstrations contained and referenced herein are listed for the purposes of cataloging and describing physics demonstrations which should be conducted only under the direction of a trained instructional support professional or physicist. These demonstrations are not presented for the purpose of being conducted by persons unconnected to this Facility and/or persons not consulting with or being supervised by the recognized instructional support professional or physicist and his/her staff. The University is responsible only for those demonstrations carried out using its own equipment using established safety and scheduling policies, and bears no responsibility for those choosing to use this source material for their own purposes. All demonstrations described and contained herein are public domain, and can also be found in reference materials in libraries, bookstores, and electronic sources.

Further information regarding legal liability in use of demonstrations and labs will be found on the web site Injuries in School/College Laboratories in USA.

The University of Iowa Disclaimers:  University of Iowa Disclaimer All Rights Reserved..

Condition :   Good  
Principle :   Modes of Operations  
Area of Study :  Acoustics  
Equipment :   Air Track, Air Cars, Band Springs, Pendulums (Inverted).

Procedure :   Set the air track level and then couple the desired cars together with the springs. Start the oscillations as desired.  A system with two springs and three cars will show multiple modes.
conbot.gif (53 bytes)

 

   References

Antonino Carnevali and Cynthia L. Newton, "Coupled Harmonic Oscillators Made Easy", TPT, Vol. 38, # 8, Nov. 2000, p. 503.

Norris W. Preyer, "The Coupled Harmonic Oscillator", TPT, Vol. 34, # 1, Jan. 1996, p. 52.

 

David L. Wallach, William Beatty, Karl Beisler, Peter Chronowski, Matthew Holloway, Robert Hutchinson, Diane Kacmarik, Raymond Lesko, James Lutz, Daniel Miller, and Michael Sivak, "The Effect of the Mass of the Center Spring in One-Dimensional Coupled Harmonic Oscillators", AJP, Vol. 56, # 12, Dec. 1988, p. 1120.

P. E. Quellette, "Mutual Inertia", AJP, Vol. 46, (3), Mar. 1978, p. 237. 

 

Mx-14:  Freier and Anderson,  A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.



Mail Questions and Comments to:  Dale Stille