Question

A 65 kg person jumps from a window to a fire net 16 m below, which stretches the net 1.2 m. Assume that the net behaves like a simple spring. Calculate how much it would stretch if the same person were lying in it.

Answer 1

To find how much the net would stretch if a person were lying in it, apply Hooke's Law using the spring constant calculated from the person jumping and the weight of the person as the new force.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves calculating the stretch of a net when a person is lying in it, treating the net as a simple spring. This can be solved by using Hooke's Law, which states that the force exerted by a spring is directly proportional to the distance it is stretched, represented by F = kx, where F is the force, k is the spring constant, and x is the stretch.

In the scenario where a 65 kg person jumps from a window 16 meters above and stretches the net by 1.2 meters, the force exerted on the net at the maximum stretch will be equal to the weight of the person (65 kg * 9.8 m/s2). This allows us to find the spring constant, k, since we know both the force (F) and the stretch (x).

When the person is lying in the net, the force exerted on the net is just the person's weight. Using the already calculated spring constant, k, and the person's weight as force (F), we can rearrange Hooke's Law to solve for the new stretch (x).