• A mass and spring system is a type of simple harmonic oscillator
• The?time period?of a mass-spring system is given by:

• Where:
  • T?= time period (s)
  • m?= mass (kg)
  • k?= spring constant (N m-1)

   

• This equation applies for both a horizontal or vertical mass-spring system

A mass-spring system can be either vertical or horizontal. The time period equation applies to both

• The equation shows that the time period and frequency, of a mass-spring system, does?not?depend on the force of gravity
  • Therefore, the oscillations would have the same time period on Earth and the Moon

   

• The higher the spring constant?k, the stiffer the spring and the shorter the time period