Calculating Shock Absorber Energy Dissipation for Car Bounce

[narutoish]

Homework Statement

How much energy must the shock absorbers of a 1240 kg car dissipate in order to damp a bounce that initially has a velocity of 0.840 m/s at the equilibrium position? Assume the car returns to its original vertical position.

Homework Equations

F_s = -kx

The spring equation is he only thing that comes even close to making sense.

The Attempt at a Solution

I honestly don't know how to even get started, do I use the spring equation or something else. We covered thermodynamics and waves recently so it has to be from there, I just can't find any equation that would work.

Thanks

 

[Born2bwire]

A shock absorber is more than just a spring. If it was just a perfect spring then it would not be very useful as you would just keep bouncing around. A shock absorber is basically a damped spring, it is a spring that is lossy in such a way that converts kinetic energy into thermal energy.

So in this case, we have a car that has started to bounce with a given mass and velocity. How much energy will you need to dissipate to stop it's vertical movement?

 

[narutoish]

Kinetic energy, of course! Thank you.