You have been hired to design a spring-launched roller coaster that will carry t

Question

You have been hired to design a spring-launched roller coaster that will carry two passengers per car. The car goes up a 10-m-high hill, then descends 17 m to the track's lowest point. You've determined that the spring can be compressed a maximum of 2.0 m and that a loaded car will have a maximum mass of 450 kg. For safety reasons, the spring constant should be 10 % larger than the minimum needed for the car to just make it over the top.

What spring constant should you specify?
k = 2.4×10^4 N/m (THIS IS CORRECT!)

What is the maximum speed of a 350 KG car if the spring is compressed the full amount? (THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS NOT 19, NOT 18, AND NOT 21!)

Explanation / Answer

Now, max speed, 0.5mv^2 = 0.5kx^2 350 x v^2 = 2.4 x 10^4 x 2^2 speed = v = 16.562 m/s

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