A 0.5000-kg cart resting on an air track oscillates as shown in the animation (position in meters and time in seconds). NO FRICTION !
What is the spring constant k of the spring?
Start
[REQUIREMENT: Use conservation of energy. Set the maximum potential energy
equal to the maximum kinetic energy.
You can get the maximum KE from an approximation of the speed at x = 0 by stepping through
the origin
with an increment on either side to get the change in position and using
other pertinent information.]
QUESTION 2
In Chapter 14, we will discover the position x may be written under
special initial conditions as x = A*cosωt,
where A is the amplitude or magnitude of the maximum displacement from x = 0
and ω is the angular frequency. The expression
means the mass on the spring was released from rest at initial x = A.
You may verify this by finding the velocity. Differentiate the formula
for x. From this information, answer and explain the following question.
The method of computation in #1 will produce a systematic error such that the
calculated k above will differ from the true value. Will
computed k be larger or smaller than the true value? Explain graphically
with a sketch.
QUESTION 3
What is the value of positive x such that the kinetic energy equals the
potential energy ? Start
Find this using a calculation. How does your x calculation compare
with the x-value inferred from the graph?
Explain.
Reference: CH. 6, 7