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1. A car rides on four wheels that are connected to the body of the car by sprin

ID: 2213336 • Letter: 1

Question

1. A car rides on four wheels that are connected to the body of the car by springs that allow the car to move up and down as the wheels go over bumps and dips in the road. Each spring supports approximately 1/4 the mass of the vehicle. A lightweight car has a mass of 2400 lbs. When a 160-lb person sits on the left front fender, this corner of the car dips by about 1/2 in. A. What is the spring constant of this spring? B. When four people of this mass are in the car, what is the oscillation frequency of the vehicle on the springs?

Explanation / Answer

F=kx for a spring

160g = kx where g is accelaration due to gravity and x=spring displacement = 1/2 in.

k = (please calculate yourself. I am not so fluent with the FPS system) --------------(1)

When 4 people are sitting, the weight on 4 springs 3040g lbwt.
so W = 4kx, where k is the spring constant we obtained in (1)

We get the value of x = W/4k ----------------- (2)

Frequency = (1/2)(g/x) where g is accelaration due to gravity and x=spring displacement which we obtained in (2).