Easy Energy Conservation. Spring, Incline/Ramp, Friction.

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a crate placed against a compressed spring on an incline. Upon release, the crate moves up the ramp and eventually comes to a stop. The main question pertains to determining how far the spring was compressed.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the conservation of energy, specifically relating spring potential energy to gravitational potential energy and work done by friction. There are questions about the ordering of terms in the energy equation and the accuracy of the normal force calculation.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided guidance on the formulation of the energy conservation equation and noted potential errors in the original setup. The original poster expresses uncertainty about their calculations and acknowledges a mistake in their spring equation. There is an ongoing exploration of the problem without a clear consensus on the correct approach yet.

Contextual Notes

The original poster is under time constraints, as they are being tested soon, and they are seeking to clarify their understanding of the concepts involved.

mcleanrs
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Homework Statement



Question for search purposes:

A crate is placed against a compressed spring on an incline. When the spring is released, the crate moves up the ramp and comes to a stop.

How far was the spring compressed?

Hint: The mass and the spring may not be in contact at the end.

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Your equation for energy conservation looks okay. I would have formulated it as:

spring elastic potential energy lost = grav. potential energy gained + work done by friction

which is a slightly more intuitive ordering to me.

It looks like you forgot a factor of g in your expression for the normal force, which should of course end up having units of force, not mass.
 
Thanks for your help. I agree that they were ordered funny -- but by the time I realized that, I was feeling too lazy to redo my diagram!

Anyway, I tweaked some things, and now my answer is even further off! I am being tested on this Monday, so I appreciate the help...got to figure these concepts out!

I just double and triple checked this for accuracy...I am getting exactly what my math is telling me I should get, so I must have set something up wrong or something.

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Hold it -- duh. Hold it. Got my spring equation off a little.
 
Solution

13-2-3.png
 
Glad to see you sorted it out.
 
Yeah, thanks for the help. It's hard to wander through the algebra forest looking for mistakes when you're not even sure your Physics is right ;)
 

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