EA-40 Precision Sine Drive
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The Precision Sine Drive has a stable oscillator driving an off-center cam. The cam moves a push rod which drives one of the springs connected to the Puck. Because the Pucks have very little friction, they make ideal oscillators. With two Pucks connected by three springs, two resonance frequencies can be observed and the relationship between the single resonant |
frequency and the two coupled resonance frequencies can be studied. The drive frequency is read out to 0.01 Hz on a digital display. Since the frequency of oscillation depends upon the mass of the puck, changing from a steel puck to an aluminum or acrylic puck lets the student establish that the resonant frequency is proportional to the mass of the puck. The following figure shows the motion of two pucks oscillating in the symmetric mode. The recording is made by steadily pulling the recording paper under the oscillating pucks.
