SUMMARY OF CURRENT DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS MODULES

1. Spring-Mass System A physical model has been constructed with instrumentation to provide data for position and velocity. There is an extensive website including pages on derivation of equations of motion, analysis, numerical simulation, comparison with experimental data, and refinement of the model. Several Java applets are also available for experimentation by the user. Status: essentially complete

2. Pendulum System. A physical model has been constructed with instrumentation to provide data for position and velocity. There is a website with information similar to that for the spring-mass system. Status: well-advanced but some work remains to be done on the website.

3, Spring-Pendulum System. This is a combination of the first two modules. Status: physical model is complete; the website exists only in outline form.

4. Forced Linear Oscillator. The module deals with a linear spring-mass system driven by a sinusoidal force. A physical model has been constructed that dramatically shows the dependence of the amplitude and phase of the response on the frequency of the force. Instrumentation provides data on position and velocity. Status: physical model is complete; the website has not been started.

5. Vibrations of a tightly stretched string. This module will deal with the wave equation. Status: physical model is under construction; the website has not been started.