An LC circuit oscillates by exchanging electric field energy for magnetic field

Question

An LC circuit oscillates by exchanging electric field energy for magnetic field energy. A spring-mass oscillator exchanges the kinetic energy of its mass for the elastic energy in the spring. If you wanted to make a mechanical analog to the LC circuit, would the inductor or the capacitor be represented by the mass in the spring-mass system? Hint: A spring looks somewhat like a solenoid but doesn't use physical structure to make your assignment. Think it out in terms of energy, voltage, current, etc.

Explanation / Answer

Inductor would represent the mass and capacitor would represent spring constant.

The potential energy stored in the block spring system (1/2 kx2) is analogous to potential energy stored in the capacitor Qmax2/2c. kinetic energy stored in block(1/2mv2) is analogous to magnetic energy stored in inductor (1/2 LI2).

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