Teacher Demonstration
Use the live model as a shared screen demonstration before students try their own predictions and observations.
Physics / Newtonian Mechanics
Accelerometer Spring Toy
Explore Accelerometer Spring Toy as an interactive EJS simulation for mechanics.
1. Watch or Launch
Launch the Interactive
Open the simulation, adjust the controls, and compare what changes on screen before answering the concept-check questions.
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2. Big Ideas
Key idea Spring and oscillating-mass Tracker activities show repeated motion about equilibrium. The pattern is explained by a restoring effect, with speed greatest near equilibrium and velocity zero at turning points.
What Students Can Learn
- Identify the equilibrium position.
- Use graph peaks or repeated positions to measure period.
- Distinguish displacement, velocity, and acceleration during the cycle.
- Recognise damping if the amplitude decreases over time.
Guiding Question
How do displacement, velocity, and amplitude change during each oscillation?
3. Try the Investigation
Find Equilibrium
Locate the central position about which the object oscillates.
Mark Extremes
Identify maximum displacement frames where the object turns around.
Compare Cycles
Use repeated positions or graph peaks to estimate period and amplitude.
Check for Damping
Look for shrinking amplitude across cycles and explain energy loss if present.
4. Teacher Notes
Lesson Use
Use this to target the misconception that zero velocity means zero acceleration. At maximum displacement the restoring acceleration can be large.
Discussion Prompts
Ask: Where is speed greatest? Where is displacement greatest? Does amplitude stay constant or decay?
Teaching Moves
Have students label equilibrium, amplitude, period, and one graph feature that supports each label.
5. Concept Check
These questions are generated from the topic and the concept illustrated by the simulation. Use them after students have explored the model.
Concept Score
Correct first attempts build a streak and unlock higher point multipliers on this device.
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Answer each question once to build your streak.
1. Where is speed greatest in ideal spring SHM?
2. What is amplitude?
3. What does decreasing amplitude suggest?
4. What does one period measure?
5. What evidence should a conclusion use?
Expert Challenge
Unlocks after 3 correct concept-check answers on this page.
1. In a spring SHM model, what should an expert use to decide restoring-force direction?
2. At maximum displacement in a spring oscillator, what should the model show conceptually?
3. What fair comparison tests the effect of spring constant?
4. What is the expert correction for 'the mass is at equilibrium, so energy has disappeared'?
5. What makes a spring SHM explanation expert-level?
7. Learning Pulse
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