  This work investigates the dynamics of a one-dimensional homogeneous harmonic
chain on a horizontal table. One end is anchored to a wall, the other (free)
end is pulled by external force. A Green's function is derived to calculate the
response to a generic pulling force. As an example, I assume that the magnitude
of the pulling force increases with time at a uniform rate $\beta$. If the
number of beads and springs used to model the chain is large, the extension of
each spring takes a simple closed form, which is a piecewise-linear function of
time. Under an additional assumption that a spring breaks when its extension
exceeds a certain threshold, results show that for large $\beta$ the spring
breaks near the pulling end, whereas the breaking point can be located close to
the wall by choosing small $\beta$. More precisely, the breaking point moves
back and forth along the chain as $\beta$ decreases, which has been called
"anomalous" breaking in the context of the pull-or-jerk experiment. Although
the experiment has been explained in terms of inertia, its meaning can be fully
captured by discussing the competition between intrinsic and extrinsic time
scales of forced oscillation.
