In: Physics
My Notes
A 5000-kg freight car rolls along rails with negligible friction. The car is brought to rest by a combination of two coiled springs as illustrated in the figure below. Both springs are described by Hooke's law and have spring constants with
k1 = 1700 N/m
and
k2 = 3200 N/m.
After the first spring compresses a distance of 33.0 cm, the second spring acts with the first to increase the force as additional compression occurs as shown in the graph. The car comes to rest 49.5 cm after first contacting the two-spring system. Find the car's initial speed.
Given:
Spring constant of first spring,
Given that the car comes to rest 49.5 cm after first contacting the two-spring system.
So compression of first spring,
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Spring constant of second spring,
Given that after the first spring compresses a distance of 33.0 cm, the second spring acts with the first to increase the force as additional compression occurs.
So compression of second spring,
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When the freight car finnally comes to rest, its initial kinetic energy is converted into potential energy of the two-spring system.
ANSWER:
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