A carriage runs along rails on a rigid beam. The carriage is attached to one end of a spring of equilibrium length r0 and force constant k, whose other end is fixed on the beam. On the carriage, another set of rails is perpendicular to the first along which a particle of mass m moves, held by a spring fixed on the beam, of force constant k and zero equilibrium length. Beam, rails, springs, and carriage are assumed to have zero mass. The whole system is forced to move in a plane about the point of attachment of the first spring, with a constant angular speed ω. The length of the second spring is at all times considered small compared to r0. What is the energy of the system? Is it conserved?

A carriage runs along rails on a rigid beam. The carriage is attached to one end of a spring of equilibrium length r0 and force constant k, whose other end is fixed on the beam. On the carriage, another set of rails is perpendicular to the first along which a particle of mass m moves, held by a spring fixed on the beam, of force constant k and zero equilibrium length. Beam, rails, springs, and carriage are assumed to have zero mass. The whole system is forced to move in a plane about the point of attachment of the first spring, with a constant angular speed ω. The length of the second spring is at all times considered small compared to r0. What is the energy of the system? Is it conserved?