page_title: Atwood machine
hierarchical_section_title: Atwood machine
caption_attribution_description: Atwood's machine
context_page_description: The Atwood machine was invented in 1784 by the English mathematician George Atwood as a laboratory experiment to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. Atwood's machine is a common classroom demonstration used to illustrate principles of classical mechanics.
  The ideal Atwood machine consists of two objects of mass m₁ and m₂, connected by an inextensible massless string over an ideal massless pulley.
  Both masses experience uniform acceleration. When m₁ = m₂, the machine is in neutral equilibrium regardless of the position of the weights.
context_section_description: The Atwood machine (or Atwood's machine) was invented in 1784 by the English mathematician George Atwood as a laboratory experiment to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. Atwood's machine is a common classroom demonstration used to illustrate principles of classical mechanics.
  The ideal Atwood machine consists of two objects of mass m₁ and m₂, connected by an inextensible massless string over an ideal massless pulley.
  Both masses experience uniform acceleration. When m₁ = m₂, the machine is in neutral equilibrium regardless of the position of the weights.
caption: Illustration of the Atwood machine, 1905.
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