Question

g A mass of 2.0 kg traveling at 3.0 m/s along a smooth, horizontal plane hits a relaxed spring. The mass is slowed to zero velocity when the spring has been compressed by 0.15 m. What is the spring constant of the spring

Answer 1

By the work-energy theorem, the total work done on the mass by the spring is equal to the change in the mass's kinetic energy:

W = ∆K

and the work done by a spring with constant k as it gets compressed a distance x is -1/2 kx ²; the work it does is negative because the restoring force of the spring points opposite the direction in which it's getting compressed.

So we have

-1/2 k (0.15 m)² = 0 - 1/2 (2.0 kg) (3.0 m/s)²

Solve for k to get k = 800 N/m.