Question

A spring whose spring constant is 850 N/m is compressed 0.40 m. What is the maximum speed it can give to a 500 g ball? ____m/s

Answer 1

Answer: 16.5 m/s

Explanation:
By law of conservation of energy:

$\frac{kx^2}{2} = \frac{mv^2}{2}$ --- (1)

Since k = Spring Constant = 850 N/m
x = 0.40 m
m = 500g = 0.5kg
v=?

Plug in the values in (1):

$\frac{(850)(0.40^2)}{2} = \frac{0.5v^2}{2} \\ v = \sqrt{272} \\ v = 16.49 m/s\\ v = 16.5 m/s(approx)$