Question

The potential energy of a mass-spring system when the spring is fully compressed and the mass is at rest is 200 J. After releasing the mass, assuming there is no dissipative force, the system will oscillate. At a point during the oscillation the potential energy of the system is 50 J. What is the kinetic energy of the mass at that point

Answer 1

150 J

Step-by-step explanation:

If there is not any dissipative force in the system, the mass and the spring will oscillate eternally., but of course, we assume this is a theoretical situation. The conservation of energy in a system implies that the sum of the potential energy plus kinetic energy remains constant, therefore if in the initial point the mass has 200 J (potential energy) and is at rest ( kinetic energy = 0) the overall energy at the beginning is 200 J. At any point of the oscillation if the potential energy is 50 J the kinetic energy must be 150 J.