Oscillation of Decaying Spring

Aditya Dutta
May 2021

1 Oscillation of Spring
Before we start looking at the oscillation of a decaying spring, let’s take a look
at the position equation for the oscillation of spring that does not lose energy.
Since a spring moves in a sinusoidal motion, we know that general equation will
be y(t) = a cos(bt + c) + d where t is time, and y(t) is the y position of the spring
at any given time.
For this project, since we are trying to find the relation of the initial dis-
placement of the spring, the mass of the object on the end of the spring, and the
spring constant, we can simplify this equation. We know that any spring must
start from its maximum displacement. We can also say that the equilibrium po-
sition of the mass is at position 0. This would mean that c and d are both equal
to 0. This would also mean that our general equation would be y(t) = a cos(bt).
In the general equation y(t) = a cos(bt), a is the amplitude, the initial
displacement, so we can keep it as is since this is an independent variable.
b is the period which can be rewritten as 2π T where T is the period of the
spring. We know that for any spring, T = 2π m
p
k . This would mean that
q
2π k
b = √ m = m . From all of this, we get the general equation for any oscil-
2π k q 
k
lating spring is y(t) = a cos mt .

2 Oscillation of Decaying Spring

To find the position equation of a decaying spring, we can take a look at the
forces that act on a spring. We know that on a non-decaying spring, the main
force acting upon the mass is the spring force so you have F = −k|x| where k
is the spring constant and x is the initial displacement.
However in the real world, we have another force acting upon the object
called the linear dampening force. This force can be found using the general
equation F = −cv where c is a constant that is dependant on the system and
can be found using experimental data. The v in this equation is the velocity of
the mass. We also have gravity acting on the object since the object has mass,
but this doesn’t change the oscillation of the spring since gravity is not trying to

1
restore equilibrium in the spring system. Gravity does change the equilibrium
position but since we are considering the y value for the equilibrium position to
be 0, we can discount gravityP entirely. P
From all of this, we have F = −kx − vc. We also know that F = ma.
We can now combine the two equations to get ma + vc + kx = 0. We can
once again rewrite this by realising that v is the first derivative of x and that
a is the second derivative
2
of x. This would mean that we can rewrite all of
force equation as m ddt2y + c dy
dt + ky = 0; a second order homogeneous differential
equation.
Since this is a second order homogeneous differential equation, we know that
general solution to it must be y = e−wt where we can find w through experimen-
tal data. e−wt is the decay factor for us which means that the position of the
spring decays by e−wt . By combining the decay factor and the general equation
for a non-decaying oscillation spring we get the general qposition
 equation of any
−wt k
decaying spring by the equation y(t) = e a cos m t . This equation is
dependant on k, m, and a which are all independent variables. w can be found
through experimental data and in our case we had w = 0.1003.

3 Finding New Equations

Now that we have the position equation, we can also find the velocity and accel-
eration equation taking the partial derivative
 of xwith respect to t. Since
q v(t) =
q  q
∂y −tw k k k
∂t therefore we get that v(t) = −ae w cos mt + m sin mt .
∂2y
We also know that a(t) = ∂t2therefore we get
q q q
ae−tw ((−k + mw2 ) cos ( mk
t) + 2 mk
mw sin( mk
t)
a(t) =
m
.
From the velocity and position equation, we can also find the equation
for kinetic, potential,
 qand totalqenergy.q we know that KE = 12 mv 2 =
Since
1 −tw k k k
2 m(−ae w cos mt + m sin mt )2 We also know that poten-
tial energy isjust dependent on the spring, so we get that P E = 12 kx2 =
q 
1 −wt k 2
2 k(e a cos m t ) . From this, we can find the total energy equation for
the spring mass system since

T E = P E + KE
;
r ! r r !!!2 r !!2
1 −tw k k k 1 −wt k
TE = m −ae w cos t + sin t + k e a cos t .
2 m m m 2 m