The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion
written by
Tom Dooling, Aaron Titus, Jeffrey Register, and Matt Carnaghi
A weak spring is connected at one end to a rotor turning at constant angular velocity. The spring extends to a stretched length as determined by the spring mass, rest length, spring constant, rotor radius and rotor angular velocity. When released from the rotor, the inner end of the spring pulls away as expected, causing a wave to travel down the spring as it collapses. During this time interval, the outer end of the spring continues to move along its original circular path in uniform circular motion, as if the spring were still connected to the rotor. This is analogous to the effect of a hanging Slinky released from rest whose bottom end remains at a fixed position above the ground until a wave from the top of the Slinky reaches the bottom of the Slinky.
Springs Released From Uniform Circular Motion Poster by Matthew Carnaghi and Aaron Titus (High Point University), Tom Dooling (UNC Pembroke), Jeff Regester (Greensboro Day School)
A poster presented at the NC AAPT Section Meeting describing the experiment. download 1089kb .pdf
Last Modified: August 21, 2015
Supplemental Data and Graphs
Supplemental data and graphs to accompany the article describing the Rotating Spring Experiment. download 253kb .pdf
Last Modified: August 21, 2015
Rotating Spring TRZ
A Tracker experiment file showing the motion of a spring after it is released from a rotating turntable. Open this archive using the Tracker video modeling tool. download 889kb .trz
Last Modified: April 20, 2023
Rotating Slinky TRZ
A Tracker experiment file showing the motion of a slinky after it is released from a rotating turntable. Open this archive using the Tracker video modeling tool. download 1900kb .trz
Last Modified: April 20, 2023
Rotating Spring Video
A video clip showing the motion of a spring after it is released from a rotating turntable. download 620kb .mp4
Last Modified: August 21, 2015
EJS Rotating Spring Simulation
An EJS Java simulation showing and analyzing the motion of a spring released from a rotating turntable. download 1206kb .jar
Last Modified: August 23, 2015
previous versions
EJS Rotating Slinky Simulation
An EJS Java simulation showing and analyzing the motion of a slinky released from a rotating turntable. download 1206kb .jar
Last Modified: August 23, 2015
previous versions
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/OSP/items/detail.cfm?ID=13727">Dooling, T, A. Titus, J. Regester, and M. Carnaghi. "The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion." 2015.</a>
T. Dooling, A. Titus, J. Regester, and M. Carnaghi, , 2015, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146).
T. Dooling, A. Titus, J. Regester, and M. Carnaghi, The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion, 2015, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146>.
Dooling, T., Titus, A., Regester, J., & Carnaghi, M. (2015). The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion. Retrieved September 14, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146
Dooling, T, A. Titus, J. Regester, and M. Carnaghi. "The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion." 2015. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146 (accessed 14 September 2024).
Dooling, Tom, Aaron Titus, Jeffrey Regester, and Matt Carnaghi. The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion. 2015. 14 Sep. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146>.
@techreport{
Author = "Tom Dooling and Aaron Titus and Jeffrey Regester and Matt Carnaghi",
Title = {The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion},
Year = {2015}
}
%A Tom Dooling %A Aaron Titus %A Jeffrey Regester %A Matt Carnaghi %T The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion %D 2015 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146 %O application/pdf
%0 Report %A Dooling, Tom %A Titus, Aaron %A Regester, Jeffrey %A Carnaghi, Matt %D 2015 %T The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13727&DocID=4146
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