The discussion revolves around determining the acceleration of a system consisting of two masses connected by a spring, with an external force applied to one of the masses. The scope includes conceptual understanding and application of Newton's laws, particularly in the context of systems with coupled masses and spring forces.
Participants express differing views on the relevance of certain forces and the method for calculating acceleration, indicating that multiple competing views remain and the discussion is unresolved.
Participants note the absence of specific values for the masses and the applied force, which limits the ability to reach a definitive conclusion. There is also a lack of clarity on how to treat the accelerations of the coupled masses in the presence of a spring.
Simon Bridge said:Very good. How are you going about it?
ie. did you try Newton's method of drawing free body diagrams for each mass?
I think you may have left out some important information in your problem statement:glover261 said:Yeah I found the forces acting downwards but I think they are irrelevant because all the acceleration for the system would be in the sideways direction.
This cannot follow from post #1 because you have not given any values for m1, m2 or F. It is unlikely to be correct because you have not accounted for the force from the spring.I found that the acceleration of the 3kg (larger) mass is 15/3= 5ms/^2,...
Yes....but I'm not sure if this is correct because wouldn't the spring be pulling back on it and therefore lowering its acceleration?
This is not how you would normally treat the accelerations of coupled masses is it?I am not really sure how to find the acceleration of the whole system, do I try find the acceleration of each mass and add them?
You include the force due to the spring in the free body diagram.How do I do that when a spring is involved?