Atwood Machines

The Atwood machine is a simple physics apparatus consisting of a pulley, a light, inextensible string or cord, and two masses of unequal size. It is used to demonstrate the principles of motion and energy conservation, and to explore the effects of friction and air resistance on the system. In this lesson, we derive the equations of motion for both the Atwood machine and the Double Atwood machine using Lagrangian mechanics and show how they can be used to determine the acceleration and tension in the system.