Can you use energy methods? When the cart is at the top of the track it has an inital potential energy (mgh). At the bottom of the track the initial potential energy (less any frictional losses) will be converted into kinetic energy. That will allow you to calculate the velocity at impact...
You must use conservation of energy AND conservation of linear momemtum. Once you have calculated the final velocities correctly (your's appear to be incorrect :cry:) then you can calculate their respective kinetic energies (1/2*mv^2). You can then compare each final kinetic energy to the...
Redbelly98,
Thank you for your input! I managed to find the solution to this problem. It was by no means as straight forward as I initially thought. It ultimately involved solving a driven 2nd order diff-eq and useing Euler's identity a bunch of times. I suspect there is an easier method...
Redbelly98,
Thank you for your response! I took a stab at an equation of motion but am not confident in it. What I've come up with is a driven 2nd-order diff eq. Is this correct? Is it then just a matter of solving for x? I have attached a pdf showing the details (it was quicker than...
Homework Statement
See attachment (titled "Statement.jpg")
Homework Equations
F = ma
F = -kx
U = K = (1/2)kx^2
I'm assuming there are more...
The Attempt at a Solution
My first attempt at this soultion was to use energy methods. The force applied for some time t0 will...