Spring Released During Circular Motion JS Model Documents

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Spring Released During Circular Motion JS Model Documents

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Main Document

Spring Released During Circular Motion JS Model

written by Wolfgang Christian and Tom Dooling

This simulation shows different views of a spring that is whirled in a circle with one end free. The free end extends outward due to its own inertia or, expressed in terms of a rotating reference frame, the action of centrifugal force. Given sufficient time for initial oscillations to dampen, the free end travels in uniform circular motion. How will the two ends of the spring move when the free end is released?

Newtonian mechanics predicts that the free end will to continue in uniform circular motion as before, until such time as a wave propagates from the inner end to the outer. Seen in person or especially in high-speed video, the phenomenon is striking, even if expected.

Download webejs_model_SpringReleasedDuringCircularMotion.zip - 904kb Compressed File

Last Modified March 29, 2024

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Supplemental Documents (3)

The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion

A detailed discussion of the Spring Release During Circular Motion simulation is available in The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circular Motion paper by T. Dooling, J. Register, M. Carnaghi, and A. Titus.