A spring with a constant of 5 (kg)/s^2 is lying on the ground with one end attached to a wall. An object with a mass of 6 kg and speed of 2 m/s collides with and compresses the spring until it stops moving. How much will the spring compress?

2 Answers
Mar 10, 2018

Spring will compress by "2.19 m"

Explanation:

Kinetic energy of object = Energy stored in spring

1/2mv^2 = 1/2kx^2

From above equation

x = vsqrt(m/k) = "2 m/s" × sqrt("6 kg"/("5 kg/s"^2)) = "2.19 m"

Mar 10, 2018

The compression is =2.19m

Explanation:

Mass of the object is m=6kg

Speed of the object is v=2ms^-1

The kinetic energy of the object is

KE=1/2mv^2=1/2*6*(2)^2=12J

This energy will be stored in the spring

E=1/2kx^2

The spring constant is k=5kgs^-2

Let the compression of the spring be =xm

Therefore,

12=1/2*5*x^2

x^2=(24)/5=4.8m^2

The compression of the spring is

x=sqrt4.8=2.19m