Dear students,

This is a guide for problem 2 of the homework. These blocks are called coupled oscillators, or coupled
mass-spring systems.
You may find videos on the web:
This one is called Lecture 8c. Coupled mass-spring system. (Derek Thomas). It looks blurry, but it is
enlightening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Un46wVQjs
This one is called Eigenvectors (Steve Spicklemire). We saw it in class and it has very nice animations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ZkKPtgTeA
This video from IIT is called Lecture 7 Coupled Oscillations by prof. S. Bharadwaj.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHZZm2r4DK4
To see the first and second natural mode of oscillation (energy trading) see this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyOUJUOUvso

And here are my two cents for you:

Felipe discussed the basic vibration equation. This gave you a good review of the basic DEs for vibrating
bodies, oscillations, waves. The lesson is that before attempting to model anything mathematically, we
have to understand the Physics first. This problem is more complex.
Here we want to model the following situation:

Figure 1. Two-Mass Spring System.

In figure 1 above we assume that the system is at rest. In other words all three springs are currently at
their natural lengths and are not exerting any forces on either of the two masses and that there are no
external forces acting on either mass.
Once we start the system in motion, we will make the following assumptions:

1. x1 will measure the displacement of mass m1 from its equilibrium (i.e. resting) position and x2 will
measure the displacement of mass m2 from its equilibrium position.
2. As noted in the figure above all displacement will be assumed to be positive if it is to the right of
equilibrium position and negative if to the left of the equilibrium position.
3. All forces acting to the right are positive forces and all forces acting to the left are
negative.
4. The spring constants, k1 , k2, and k3 , are all positive and may or may not have the same value.
5. The surface that the system is sitting on is frictionless and so the mass of each of the objects will not
affect the system in any way.
Before writing down the system for this case, recall that the force exerted by the spring on the each mass
is the spring constant times the amount that the spring has been compressed or stretched and well need to
be careful with signs to make sure that the force is acting in the correct direction.
We will now write the system of differential equations for the spring and mass system:
To help ourselves, let us first take a look at the situation in which both masses have been moved. Refer to
figure 2:

Figure 2. Initial Displacements.

Before proceeding lets note that this is only a representation of a typical case, but NOT all possible cases.
But this is a good starting point to understand the setting up of the DE.
In this case, we assume that both x1 and x2 are positive and that x2 - x1 < 0. In other words, both masses
have been moved to the right of their respective equilibrium points and that m1 has been moved farther
than m2. So, under these assumption on x1 and x2, we know that the spring on the left (with spring
constant k1) has been stretched past its natural length while the middle spring (spring constant k2) and the
right spring (spring constant k3) are both under compression.
Also, weve shown the external forces, F1(t) and F2(t), as present and acting in the positive direction. They
do not, in practice, need to be present in every situation in which case we will assume that F1(t ) = 0
and/or F2(t) = 0 . Likewise, if the forces are in fact acting in the negative direction we will then assume
that F1(t) < 0 and/or F2 (t) < 0 .

Next, we need to talk a little about how the middle spring will behave as the masses move. Here are all
the possibilities that we can have and the affect each will have on x2 x1. Note that in each case the
amount of compression/stretch in the spring is given by | x2 x1 | although we wont be using the
absolute value bars when we set up the differential equations.
1. If both masses move the same amount in the same direction then the middle spring will not have
changed length and well have x2 x1 = 0 .
2. If both masses move in the positive direction then the sign of x2 - x1 will tell us which has moved
more. If m1 moves more than m2 then the spring will be in compression and x2 x1 < 0 . Likewise, if m2
moves more than m1 then the spring will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 .
3. If both masses move in the negative direction well have pretty much the opposite behavior as #2. If
m1 moves more than m2 then the spring will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 . Likewise, if 2 m moves
more than 1 m then the spring will be in compression and x2 x1 < 0 .
4. If m1 moves in the positive direction and m2 moves in the negative direction then the spring will be in
compression and x2 x1 < 0 .
5. Finally, if m1 moves in the negative direction and m2 moves in the positive direction then the spring
will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 .
Now, well use the figure above to help us develop the differential equations (the figure corresponds to
case 2 above) and then make sure that they will also hold for the other cases as well.
Lets start off by getting the differential equation for the forces acting on m1 . Here is a quick sketch of
the forces acting on m1 for the figure above.

Figure 3. Left Block Free Body Diagram.

In this case x1 > 0 and so the first spring has been stretched and so will exert a negative (i.e. to the left)
force on the mass. The force from the first spring is then k1 x1 and the - is needed because the force is
negative but both k1 and x1 are positive.
Next, because were assuming that m1 has moved more than m2 and both have moved in the positive
direction we also know that x2 x1 < 0 . Because m1 has moved more than m2 we know that the second
spring will be under compression and so the force should be acting in the negative direction on m1 and so
the force will be k2 (x2 x1 ). Note that because k2 is positive and x2 x1 is negative this force will
have the correct sign (i.e. negative).
The differential equation for m1 is then,

m1 x1= k1 x1 + k2 (x2 x1) + F1 ( t)

Note that this will also hold for all the other cases. If m1 has been moved in the negative direction, then
the force form the spring on the right that acts on the mass will be positive and k1x1 will be a positive
quantity in this case. Next, if the middle is has been stretched (i.e. x2 x1 > 0)
then the force from this spring on 1 m will be in the positive direction and
k2 ( x2 x1) will be a
positive quantity in this case. Therefore, this differential equation holds for all cases not just the
one we illustrated at the start of this problem.
Lets now write down the differential equation for all the forces that are acting on m2 . Here is a sketch of
the forces acting on this mass for the situation sketched out in the figure above.

Figure 4. Right Block Free Body Diagram.

In this case x2 is positive and so the spring on the right is under compression and will exert a negative
force on m2 and so this force should be k3 x2 , where the - is required because both k3 and x2 are
positive. Also, the middle spring is still under compression but the force that it exerts on this mass is now
a positive force, unlike in the case of m1 , and so is given by
k2 (x2 x1 ). The - on this force is required because x2 x1 is negative and the force must be
positive.
The differential equation for m2 is then,

m2 x2 = - k3 x2 - k2 ( x2 - x1 ) + F2 ( t )
Well leave it to you to verify that this differential equation does in fact hold for all the other cases.
Putting all of this together and doing a little rewriting will then give the following system of differential
equations for this situation.

m1 x1 = - ( k1 + k2 ) x1 + k2 x2 + F1 ( t )
m2 x2 = k2 x1 - ( k2 + k3 ) x2 + F2 ( t )
This is a system to two linear second order differential equations that may or may not be
nonhomogeneous depending whether there are any external forces, F1 ( t ) and F2 ( t ) , acting on the
masses.
We have not talked about how to solve systems of second order differential equations. However, it can be
converted to a system of first order differential equations as the next example shows and in many cases
we could solve that.

In the next delivery, we will talk about the next steps. We will change the notation slightly. This part was
supposed to give you enough tools to get started.
This is the notation that you will be using. (This is the left mass equation).
m

d2
dt

y1 = k y1 k(y1 y2)

or
m

d2
dt

y1 + 2ky1 = ky2

I will be with you as you solve this example. It is a learning experience in itself.