Experimental study on interaction between a positive mass and a negative effective mass through a mass-spring system

• Published in: Theoretical and applied mechanics letters Vol. 5; no. 5; pp. 196 - 199
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jiao, Cheng, Yong, Zhang, Hongkuan, Huang, Guoliang, Hu, Gengkai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2015; Elsevier
• Subjects: Dynamics; Energy principle; Mass–spring system; Negative effective mass; Self-accelerated; 哈密顿原理; 实验; 相互作用; 能量原理; 负有效质量; 质量单位; 质量弹簧系统; 质量链; Self-accelerated; Energy principle; Mass–spring system; Dynamics; Negative effective mass
• ISSN: 2095-0349
• DOI: 10.1016/j.taml.2015.08.003

We investigate the interaction between a positive mass and a negative effective mass through a three- mass chain connected with elastic springs, a pair of masses is designed to have an effective negative mass, and it interacts with the third positive one as if an equivalent two-mass chain. The dynamics of the equivalent two-mass chain shows that the two bodies may be self-accelerated in same direction when the effective mass becomes negative, the experiment is also conducted to demonstrate this type of motion. We further show that the energy principle （Hamilton＇s principle） is applicable if the energy of the negative mass unit is properly characterized. The result may be relevant to composite with cells of effective negative mass, their interaction with matrix may lead to more richer unexpected macroscopic responses.