A spring with a constant of 8 kgs2 is lying on the ground with one end attached to a wall. An object with a mass of 7 kg and speed of 6 ms1 collides with and compresses the spring until it stops moving. How much will the spring compress?

1 Answer
Aug 25, 2016

The initial kinetic energy is Ek=12mv2=12762=126 J.

This will be converted to spring potential energy, which will have the same value, 126 J. The equation is Esp=12kx2.

Rearranging to make the compression distance, x, the subject: x=2Espk=21268=5.6 m.