Question

A car has a mass of 1.2 tonne. The suspension spring of the car together have a spring constant of 2.0. How for does the weight of the car compress its spring

Answer 1

Answer:

x = 58.86[mm]

Explanation:

This problem can be solved by means of Hooke's law which tells us that the force is equal to the product of the constant of the spring by the distance that is compressed or stretched. The following equation can be used.

$F=k*x$

where:

F = force or weight [N]

k = spring constant = 2*10⁵ [N/m]

x = distance  compressed [m]

The weight can be calculated as the product of the mass by the gravity acceleration.

$F=m*g\\F=1.2*1000*9.81\\F=11772[N]$

Now replacing in the Hook's law

$11772=2*10^{5} *x\\x=0.05886[m]\\x=58.86[mm]$