Mechanical Vibrations: Mass-spring System

The simplest oscillator is the mass-spring system which consists of a horizontal spring fixed at one end with a mass connected at the other end.

Figure 22: An ideal mass-spring system.
$\begin{figure}\centerline{% \input{mass-spring.pstex_t}}\end{figure}$
The motion of an object can be describe in terms of its
1. displacement
2. velocity $v(t) = \frac{dx}{dt}$
3. acceleration $a(t) = \frac{dv}{dt} = \frac{d^2x}{dt^2}$

**Figure 22:** An ideal mass-spring system.
$\begin{figure}\centerline{% \input{mass-spring.pstex_t}}\end{figure}$