Dynamics (work-energy principle)

[hudsbri22]

Homework Statement

Car bumpers are designed to limit the extent of damage to the car in the case of low-velocity collisions. Consider a 1420kg passenger car impacting a concrete barrier while traveling at a speed of 5.0km/h. Model the car as a particle and consider two bumper models: 1) a simple linear spring with constant k and 2) a linear spring of constant k in parallel with a shock absorbing unit generating a nearly constant force F(s)=2000N over 10cm.

a) if the bumper is of type 1 and if k=9*10^4N/m, find the spring compression(distance) necessary to stop the car.

please help me with this.

 

[tiny-tim]

welcome to pf!

hi hudsbri22! welcome to pf!

a) if the bumper is of type 1 and if k=9*10^4N/m, find the spring compression(distance) necessary to stop the car.

what's the difficulty?

the question is asking for the distance at which the spring will be maximally compressed