- #1
Miles123K
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Homework Statement
The system is shown in the image. In the beaded string shown in Figure 1, the interval between neighboring beads is a, and the distance from the end beads to the wall is a/2. All the beads have mass m and are constrained to move only vertically in the plane of the paper. The strings are massless with constant string tension T.
Homework Equations
I am sure that I'm supposed to construct an analogous infinite system first. That system would have standard translation symmetry matrix and should be solved in that way. Boundary conditions need to be applied later to make the system limited.
The Attempt at a Solution
I made a wild attempt to try to add imaginary oscillators to the system so that there will be one oscillator every a/2 length. I am pretty sure I am very wrong since an N-oscillator system should not have 2N normal modes.