A spring pendulum is a physical system where a piece of mass is connected to a spring so that the resulting motion contains elements of a simple pendulum as well as a spring. The system is much more complex than a simple pendulum because the properties of the spring adds an extra dimension of freedom to the system. For example, when the spring compresses, the shorter radius causes the spring to move faster due to the conservation of angular momentum. Also there is the possibility that the spring has a range that is overtaken by the motion of the pendulum, making it practically neutral to the motion of the pendulum.
Famous quotes containing the words spring and/or pendulum:
“When the storm rattles my windowpane
I’ll stay hunched at my desk, it will roar in vain
For I’ll have plunged deep inside the thrill
Of conjuring spring with the force of my will,
Coaxing the sun from my heart, and building here
Out of my fiery thoughts, a tepid atmosphere.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The pendulum oscillates between these two terms: Suffering—that opens a window on the real and is the main condition of the artistic experience, and Boredom ... that must be considered as the most tolerable because the most durable of human evils.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)