Answer to Question #114452 in Mechanics | Relativity for Jason Grace

Question

A spring with a spring constant of 950 N/m is compressed 0.20 m. What speed can it give to a 1.5 kg ball when it is released?

Please answer using grade 11 Conservation of Energy and Momentum please!

Answer 1

The potential energy of a compressed spring is converted into kinetic energy of the ball. We write this conservation law

$\frac{k \cdot x^2}{2}=\frac{m \cdot v^2}{2}$

then write

$v=\sqrt{\frac{k \cdot x^2}{m}}=x \cdot\sqrt{\frac{k }{m}}=0.2 \cdot\sqrt{\frac{950 }{1.5}}=5.033m/s$