Forced Harmonic Oscillations

Mechanical systems are often acted upon by an external force of large magnitude that acts for only a short period of time. For example a spring-mass system could be given a sharp blow at some specific time . In engineering practice it is convenient to use the Dirac delta function as a mathematical model for such a blow. But it is my experience that it is often difficult for engineering students to get a real understanding of what this impulse function stands for. With the use of Maple it is easy and instructive to simulate Dirac's delta function

The response of a mass-spring system to an impulse function

The displacement resonance in forced oscillations