A new event has been proposed for the Winter Olympics. An athlete will sprint 150.0 m, starting from rest, then leap onto a 20.8 kg bobsled. The person and bobsled will then slide down a 46.0 m long ice-recovered ramp, sloped at á=21.0°, and into a spring with a carfully calibrated spring constant of 1544.0 N/m. The athlete who compresses the spring the farthest wins the gold medal. Jennifer, whose mass is 40.0 kg, has been training for this event. She can reach a maximum speed of 14.7 m/s in the 150.0 m dash. How far will Jennifer compress the spring?

Answer 1

Jennifer will compress the spring by a distance of 2.45 m.