Question

8. A toy train car rest on a vertical spring as shown if the springs unstretched length is 0.500 m and it has a spring constant of 90.0 N/m what is the mass of the toy train car?

Answer 1

We will have the following:

First, we remember that:

`\begin{cases}F=ma \\ \\ F=-kx \\ \\ ma=-kx\end{cases}`

And we will then have:

`m(9.8m/s^2)=-(90.0N/m)(0.350m-0.500m)\Rightarrow m=-((90.0N/m)(-0.150m))/(9.8m/s^2)`
`\Rightarrow m=(135)/(98)kg\Rightarrow m\approx1.38kg`

So, the mass of the toy train car is approximately 1.38 kg.