A 1200 kg car rolling on a horizontal surface has speed v = 50 km/h when it strikes a horizontal coiled spring and is brought to rest in a distance of 2.2 m. What is the spring stiffness constant of the spring?

Question

Sam Golden

Mathematics

2 July, 05:13

A 1200 kg car rolling on a horizontal surface has speed v = 50 km/h when it strikes a horizontal coiled spring and is brought to rest in a distance of 2.2 m. What is the spring stiffness constant of the spring?

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Answers (1)

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Marques Gross · Answer 1

When the car is moving, it has Kinetic Energy. As soon as the car entercount with the spring, its Kinetic Energy will transfer to Elastic Potential Energy.

KE = EPE

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

change the speed into m/s

50 km/hr = 13.9 m/s

1/2 (1200) (13.9) ^2 = 1/2k (2.2) ^2

now you do the math to solve for k.

k = 115926/2.42

K = 47903.30