Modeling the Motion of a Spring

Mass-spring systems are important in our everyday lives. They are in all sorts of things like mattresses, trampolines, pogo sticks, and car shockers. Anything that uses springs can be a mass-spring system. An example of how mass-spring systems are important in our lives could be our cars. Our cars have shockers that keep us from feeling every bump in the road as we drive. It is important to understand the amplitude, period and frequency of mass-spring systems because they are dependent on those three things. The amplitude shows the height of a wave. The period shows how often the wave repeats in cycles. The frequency shows how fast the waves move. The motion of the waves is measured by sine and cosine. This project changed the way I thought about how trigonometry can be applied in the real world. Before this project I didnt understand if there was a purpose to trig. I didnt realize that people have used trig to make things that I use every day! I now know that trig isnt pointless. This project also helped me apply concepts that I learned in class to a real life problem that someone might encounter. Another idea that I had that changed due to this project was the idea that trig only dealt with shapes. I didnt understand that trig could be used to measure springs. Springs dont have a distinct shape but we were still able to solve trig problems with it. This project was an eye-opener for me in many ways.