A spring with a constant of #8 (kg)/s^2# is lying on the ground with one end attached to a wall. An object with a mass of #7 kg# and speed of #9 m/s# collides with and compresses the spring until it stops moving. How much will the spring compress?

1 Answer
Feb 13, 2016

The compression of spring would be 8.42 m

Explanation:

Here the kinetic energy of the moving body = potential energy stored in the compressed spring due to collision
KE = #1/2mv^2# where m = mass and v = velocity
PE stored in the spring = #1/2kx^2# where x = compression and k force constant
equating this two we hqve

The compression of spring,x= #sqrt(mv^2/k# = #sqrt(7*9^2/8)# =8.42 m