Modeling the Motion of a Spring Consider a weight attached to a spring that is suspended from a horizontal bar as illustrated in the

figure. When the object comes to rest we say it is at equilibrium which is labeled 0 on the vertical number line. If you give the weight a push, either up or down, it will start to move and the motion can be modeled by sine and cosine functions. The stiffness of the spring and the mass of the object affect how far the object moves from the equilibrium position. The initial velocity and initial position also affect the motion of the spring. (We dont always start at the equilibrium position.) If we neglect any damping forces (air resistance etc.) then the motion of the spring can be modeled by ( ) ( ) ( )

Where ( ) is the position of the object along the number line at time . The other quantities are constants: is a constant that depends on the stiffness of the spring and the mass of the weight, is the initial velocity, and is the initial position of the object. Model the motion of a weight on a spring: Suppose a weight is set in motion from a position 8 centimeters below the equilibrium position and with a downward velocity of 15 centimeters per second. (Please note that the vertical number line used for position is upside down. This is a convention from physics and it means that position below equilibrium actually correspond to a positive value.) Assume that the constant for the spring stiffness and mass of the weight is = 6 for this system. Part I 1) Write the function that gives the position of the weight as a function of time in seconds. (Your function should consist of a sine term and a cosine term.)

( )

2) Graph the separate sine and cosine components of your function from (1) on the same set ( ) and ( ) on the set of axes below. of axes. That is graph (Sketch these graphs by hand and show two full cycles.)

Explain what you see in the graphs. Talk about amplitude, period, frequency, and phase shift. I notice that they have the same period and frequencies, but the amplitude is different. The equation has an amplitude of , a period of , a frequency of and a phase shift of 0. The equation of and a phase shift of 0. has an amplitude of 8, a period of , a frequency

3) Use a graphing calculator (or online graphing utility) to graph the entire function from part (1). Use the window settings indicated below. Sketch what you see on your calculator display. tmin = ; tmax = ; xmin = -10 ; xmax = 10. Remember the horizontal axis is t, and the vertical axis is x for this graph.

4) Write an equation for your calculator graph in the form x(t) = A cos [B(t C)]. (Use the maximum feature of your graphing utility to help you find values for A, B, and C. Round values to four decimal places. Carefully label the points on the graph that you used to determine A, B, and C. Explain how you used these points to determine A, B, and C. ( ) ( )

How I determined each point is by verifying what the amplitude, the period, and phase shift is and plugging it into the formula. The amplitude which is A is 8.3815, and the phase shift is .0505.

5) How are the graphs in part 2) related to the graph in part 3)? Are the values for amplitude, period, frequency, and phase shift the same or different? Why do you think you are seeing these results? Please write out your explanation in complete sentences. The graphs from part two represent the two trigonometric functions that are combined in part three. The period is the same for all three graphs. The amplitude for all three graphs are different. The amplitude in part three is 8.3815. The amplitude of the sine graph in part two is and the amplitude of the cosine graph is 8. We see these results because the graph in part three is the sum of the two trigonometric functions in part two.

A
C1

C2

Suppose we have two positive measurements C1 and C 2 . Why is it always possible to draw a right triangle with legs having these two measurements? How would you calculate A?

Find sin .

Solve for C1 . sin =

Find cos .

Solve for C 2 . cos =

Find tan .

Find . [Hint: This will involve tan 1 x.]

tan =
1 = tan ( )

Find A and given that C1 = 4 and C 2 = 2. = ( ) +( ) tan = = tan 1 (2)=63.435 )=

Find A and given that C1 = =( ) ( )

8 and C 2 = 7. 3

tan =( ) tan =

= tan 1 ( =86.9

( ) ( ) Verify that the identity ( ) is true. You must give a justification for each step. Remember to use properties such as the distributive property and the commutative property. Start with: Step Justification

Asinsin(t) + Acoscos(t) First we need to factor the A out of the equation, so we get the following; A[sinsin(t) + coscos(t)] Then it becomes necessary to use the Commutative Property of Addition which gives us; A[coscos(t) + sinsin(t)] Then we need to use the Commutative Property of Multiplication which gives us the following; A[cos(t)cos+ sin(t)sin)] Since we have now reduced the identity to where we can use the Difference Identity for cosine we arrive at the following; Acos(t -)

MATH 1080 Term Project Final Component Use the identity that you have developed in the previous parts of the project to rewrite an expression like c1 sin(t ) c2 cos(t ) in the form A sin sin(t ) A cos cos(t ) . Start with the beginning function from Part I.

Rewrite A sin sin(t ) A cos cos(t ) in the form A cos(t ) . ( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ( ( )

( ( )

) ) ( ( ( )

) ( ( )) ) ) ( ( )) ))

Rewrite A cos(t ) in the form A cos( B(t C )) .

( )

( ( (expressed in radians)

))

What do you observe? That the two equations, though expressed different, are the exact same.