Antepolleo
Oct26-03, 03:42 PM
Ok, this is the last time I'll bug you for a while, I promise. Actually I have two questions here.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why these answers are wrong. Here's the first question:
A child's pogo stick stores energy in a spring with a force constant of 2.40 104 N/m. At position A (xA = -0.140 m), the spring compression is a maximum and the child is momentarily at rest. At position B (xB = 0), the spring is relaxed and the child is moving upward. At position C , the child is again momentarily at rest at the top of the jump.
This problem has 5 parts, and I've managed to successfully obtain the answer to four of those parts. Here's the trouble:
(d) Determine the value of x for which the kinetic energy of the system is a maximum.
Now some information is imparted in an eariler question here:
(a) Calculate the total energy of the child-stick-Earth system if both gravitational and elastic potential energies are zero for x = 0.
I got the answer to that just fine. I noted that all associated potential energies are 0 for x = 0. Since this problem never mentions nonconservative forces, wouldn't it be safe to assume, due to the concept of conservation of energy, that the kinetic energy of the system is at a maximum when x = 0? I tried that and it did not work.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why these answers are wrong. Here's the first question:
A child's pogo stick stores energy in a spring with a force constant of 2.40 104 N/m. At position A (xA = -0.140 m), the spring compression is a maximum and the child is momentarily at rest. At position B (xB = 0), the spring is relaxed and the child is moving upward. At position C , the child is again momentarily at rest at the top of the jump.
This problem has 5 parts, and I've managed to successfully obtain the answer to four of those parts. Here's the trouble:
(d) Determine the value of x for which the kinetic energy of the system is a maximum.
Now some information is imparted in an eariler question here:
(a) Calculate the total energy of the child-stick-Earth system if both gravitational and elastic potential energies are zero for x = 0.
I got the answer to that just fine. I noted that all associated potential energies are 0 for x = 0. Since this problem never mentions nonconservative forces, wouldn't it be safe to assume, due to the concept of conservation of energy, that the kinetic energy of the system is at a maximum when x = 0? I tried that and it did not work.