Question

A steel wrecking ball is moving with 30,000 J of kinetic energy. The ball collides witha spring and comes to a complete stop. If the spring has a k = 50,000 N/m how much is the spring compressed?

Answer 1

1.02 m

Step-by-step explanation:

We are here given that ,

• Kinetic energy= 30,000 J
• spring constant= 50,000N/m

We need to find out the compression in the spring. As we know that,

`\longrightarrow E = (1)/(2)kx^2 \\`

where
`x` is the compression in the spring. So that,

`\longrightarrow 30,000 J = (1)/(2)* 50,000 * x^2 \\`

`\longrightarrow x^2=(60,000)/(50,000) \\`

`\longrightarrow x^2=(6)/(5)= 1.2m^2\\`

`\longrightarrow x=√(1.2) m \\`

`\longrightarrow \underline{\underline{ x \approx 1.02 \ m }} \\`

and we are done!