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?
4. If the spring in #3 were compressed twice as much, how many times greater would the velocity of the ball be?
3 answers
Would it be 16.5 m/s and 33 m/s since velocity would be doubled.
the energy stored in the spring is ... 1/2 k x^2
... proportional to the square of the compression
1/2 * 850 * .4^2 = 1/2 * .5 * v^2 ... 16.5 looks good
4. doubling the compression will quadruple the velocity
... proportional to the square of the compression
1/2 * 850 * .4^2 = 1/2 * .5 * v^2 ... 16.5 looks good
4. doubling the compression will quadruple the velocity
So for 4 do we have to do any work like the first one