Question

A rifle fires a pellet straight upward, because the pellet rests on a compressed spring that is released when the trigger is pulled. The spring has a negligible mass and is compressed by from its unstrained length. The pellet rises to a maximum height of 6.10 m above its position on the compressed spring. Ignoring air resistance, determine the spring constant.

Answer 1

This question is incomplete, the complete question is;

A rifle fires a 2.10 × 10⁻² kg pellet straight upward, because the pellet rests on a compressed spring that is released when the trigger is pulled. The spring has a negligible mass and is compressed by 9.10 × 10⁻² m from its unstrained length. The pellet rises to a maximum height of 6.10 m above its position on the compressed spring. Ignoring air resistance, determine the spring constant.

Answer:

the spring constant is 303.5 N/m

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the data in the question;

There is a potential energy associated with the spring;

we know that potential energy = kinetic energy

mgh =
`(1)/(2)`kx²

where k is the spring constant and x is the compression

as the pallet is fired, the spring gives kinetic energy which is converted into gravitational potential energy

so

m = 2.10 × 10⁻²

g = 9.81 m/s²

h = 6.10 m

x = 9.10 × 10⁻² m

we substitute

mgh =
`(1)/(2)`kx²

2.10 × 10⁻² × 9.81 × 6.10 =
`(1)/(2)` × K × ( 9.10 × 10⁻² )²

1.256661 = 0.0041405 × K

K = 1.256661 / 0.0041405

K = 303.5 N/m

Therefore, the spring constant is 303.5 N/m