- #1
reminiscent
- 131
- 2
Homework Statement
A 5 kg bowling ball moves at 10 m/s on a flat and frictionless surface. It hits a massless bumper with a spring constant of 100 N/cm. How far (in cm) will the spring compress?
Homework Equations
|F| = |kx|
Fnet = ma
The Attempt at a Solution
This is mostly a plug and chug problem, but the only piece missing is obviously force. Since moving at 10 m/s is a given, and on a flat and frictionless surface, this means that acceleration is 0 because it is going at a constant velocity. I would think that you would need to use Newton's 2nd Law - so drawing out a FBD gives me 2 forces acting on the ball in the y-direction, normal force and force due to gravity, but no forces acting on it in the x-direction. Do I even have to incorporate normal force in this problem? I was thinking that the weight of the ball is acting upon the spring, so the force in the spring equation would be easily (5 kg)(9.81 m/s^2) = 49.05 N. But is it that simple? I need some insight of my thinking.