Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: test problem

I agree, and I also agree with your notion of the meaning of amplitude.
Some other respondents to this thread seem to have a different definition.
If I use the graphic from your signature file to make the point, some call
"amplitude" what I would call "wave height," the vertical distance from
trough to crest -- the diameter of the reference circle -- the total
distance from the lowermost to the uppermost positions of the mass bouncing
on a spring. The custom I inherited and passed on was that amplitude was
the radius of the reference circle, where the reference circle enables one
to use angular terms in the description of the bahavior of vibrations and
waves.

Tom Ford

At 03:01 PM 12/4/01 -0500, you wrote:
It sounds to me that the amplitude of your oscillation is 10 cm
instead of 12.5 cm.

If you had made the initial disturbance 25 cm from the EQUILIBRIUM
position, then the amplitude would be 12.5 cm.

At 2:36 PM -0500 on 12/4/01, Justin Parke wrote


"This question is related to the conservation of energy lab: a 1.0
kg mass is hung from a spring which is then observed to stretch 5
cm. The mass is then pulled down 25 cm from the unstretched length
of the spring and released from rest.
a) find the spring constant of the spring
b) find the total potential energy (spring and gravitational)
of the system after it is stretched down. (Define the origin to be
the bottom of the unstretched spring.)
c) Use conservation of energy to find the speed of the mass as
it passes through the midpoint (i.e. 12.5 cm from the origin)"

--

.-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-
\ / \ / \ N / \ C / \ S / \ S / \ M / \ / \ /
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-'
Chuck Britton Education is what is left
when
britton@ncssm.edu you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366 x224 Albert Einstein, 1936