[randywebb]

Simple View:

- all springs act on displacement, (movement) and oppose it

- shocks (aka dampers, the better British term for these things) act on velocity of the displacement

Slightly more real View:
- neither is perfect -- there is friction/stiction in every shock for example and in the other suspension components

- coil springs can be made non-linear in effect

For the real nitty gritty:
Get a hold of a freshman physics text and look up the equations of motion for a harmonic oscilator - then a damped one. Once you understand this you can apply it to your suspension, to HiFi speakers, and to electronics circuits (by analogy) not to mention a lot of other things in this universe.

Velocity is the 1st time derivative of displacement, acceleration is the 2nd, and there is a 3rd too ("jerk"). The ultimate suspension will control them all -- and do so adaptively. The closest thing to that for motor vehicles are so-called active suspensions. The legs (and torso) of running animals are far superior however. State of the art prothetic legs attempt to duplicate some of that ability (coming soon to a military town near you), but no motor vehicle suspension comes anywhere close.

2. The next book to read would be an intro vehicle engineering text. 3. You can follow that up with "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics."