(b) A thin metal strip, clamped horizontally at one end, has a load of mass M attached to its free end, as shown in Fig. 3.1. [Figure 3.1] The metal strip bends, as shown in Fig. 3.1. When the free end of the strip is displaced vertically and then released, the mass oscillates in a vertical plane. Theory predicts that the variation of the acceleration a of the oscillating load with the displacement x from its equilibrium position is given by a = – ( c / ML³ ) x where L is the effective length of the metal strip and c is a positive constant.