Example
For a simple example, a block of mass m slides over a rough horizontal surface under the restraint of a spring with a spring constant k. The spring is attached to the block and mounted to an immobile object on the other end allowing the block to be moved by the force of the spring.
Because the surface is horizontal, the normal force is constant and equal to the weight of the block, or N=mg. This can be determined by summing the forces in the vertical direction. A position x is then measured horizontally to the right from the location of the block when the spring is unstretched. As stated earlier, the friction force acts in a direction opposite the motion of the block. Once put into motion the block will oscillate back and forth around the equilibrium position. Newton's Second Law states that the equation of motion of the block is or depending on the direction of motion of the block. In this equation is the acceleration of the block and x is the position of the block. A real-life example of Coulomb damping occurs in large structures with non-welded joints such as airplane wings.
Read more about this topic: Coulomb Damping
Famous quotes containing the word example:
“Our intellect is not the most subtle, the most powerful, the most appropriate, instrument for revealing the truth. It is life that, little by little, example by example, permits us to see that what is most important to our heart, or to our mind, is learned not by reasoning but through other agencies. Then it is that the intellect, observing their superiority, abdicates its control to them upon reasoned grounds and agrees to become their collaborator and lackey.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)