An automobile of mass 2000 kg is driven into a brick wall in a safety test. The bumper behaves like a Hooke’s-law spring. It has an effective spring constant of 4 × 106 N/m, and is observed to compress a distance of 1.39 cm as the car is brought to rest. What was the initial speed of the automobile? Answer in units of m/s.

Respuesta :

Answer:0.621 m/s

Explanation:

Given

mass of automobile [tex]m=2000 kg[/tex]

Effective spring constant [tex]k=4\times 10^6 N/m[/tex]

compression in spring[tex]x=1.39 cm[/tex]

Conserving Energy i.e. Kinetic energy of automobile=Elastic potential Energy of spring

[tex]\frac{mv^2}{2}=\frac{kx^2}{2}[/tex]

[tex]\frac{2000\cdot v^2}{2}=\frac{4\times 10^6\times (1.39\times 10^{-2})^2}{2}[/tex]

[tex]v^2=\frac{4\times 1.39^2\times 10^2}{2000}[/tex]

[tex]v=0.621 m/s[/tex]