Question

A spring with a constant of `12 (kg)/s^2` is lying on the ground with one end attached to a wall. An object with a mass of `8 kg` and speed of `12 m/s` collides with and compresses the spring until it stops moving. How much will the spring compress?

Answer 1

Well,here,during the compression,the kinetic energy of the object is transferred to the spring which is stored in it as elastic potential energy.

So,we can say, `1/2 K x^2 = 1/2 mv^2` (where, `K` is the spring constant, `m` is the mass of the object, `v` is the velocity of the object and `x` is the amount of compression)

So,putting the given values we get,

`x^2 =96`

or, `x=9.8 m`