Question

An automobile having a mass of 941 kg is driven into a brick wall in a safety test. The bumper behaves like a spring of constant 2.37 × 106 N/m and compresses 1.61 cm as the car is brought to rest What was the speed of the car before impact, assuming no energy is lost during impact with the wall? Answer in units of

Answer 1

v = 0.653 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

given,

mass of auto mobile = 941 Kg

spring constant = 2.37 x 10⁶ N/m

compressed by the car = 1.61 cm = 0.0161 m

we have,

`(1)/(2)kx^2 = (1)/(2)mv^2`

`v = \sqrt{(kx^2)/(m)}`

`v = \sqrt{(2.37* 10^6* 0.0161^2)/(941)}`

v = 0.653 m/s

hence, velocity of car before impact is equal to 0.653 m/s