Energy: Work

Page 8

This text is meant to accompany class discussions. It is not everything there is to know about energy. It is meant as a prep for class. More detailed notes and examples are given in the class notes, presentations, and demonstrations (click here.)

Reading questions for this unit.

Spring Potential Energy

Spring are conservative forces. they give back all the energy they absorb. This means that the work done on a spring gets stored as a potential energy.

This video can be viewed on YouTube at http://youtu.be/mHUKRwnvD1A

Example

Question
Solution on Paper
Video Solution

Wyle E. Coyote is still trying to catch that road runner -when will he learn? As part of this new ACME trap he throws a ball down on a spring as shown to the right. What is the spring's force constant?

Picture of the setup

This video can be viewed on YouTube at http://youtu.be/wAKBHhsMMLc

Example 2

Question
Solution on Paper

A stunt woman jumps upwards at an unknown angle with an initial velocity of 5 m/s. After descending for a while she grabs a spring at the spring's equilibrium position. The spring's force constant is 200 N/m. (This is the same spring constant as the spring that is used to close a screen door.) After grabbing the spring, the spring stretches 26.35 m to its fullest extension. How far did the stunt woman jump as measured to the spring's fullest extension?

by Tony Wayne ...(If you are a teacher, please feel free to use these resources in your teaching.)

The owner of this website does not collect cookies when the site is visited. However, this site uses and or embeds Adobe, Apple, GoDaddy, Google, and YouTube products. These companies collect cookies when their producs are used on my pages. Click here to go to them to find out more about how they use their cookies. If you do not agree with any of their policies then leave this site now.