- #1
Karol
- 1,380
- 22
Homework Statement
A mass of 0.1 kg has 2 springs of length 20 cm attached to each side, like in the drawing. they are loose. one has a constant of 50 [N/m] and the other 30. The system is between 2 walls 10 cm distant from each spring.
At the second stage the springs are tied each to the nearest wall. the system stabilizes and the springs have different length. what is the length of each spring.
This is the first part of a question, but i got stuck.
Homework Equations
Spring force: $$F=kx$$
The Attempt at a Solution
At first i marked with x the distance the k=50 spring stretches. of course it is tied to the wall but i drew it apart in order to clarify. in this notation the k=30 spring stretches 0.1 meter + (0.1-x):
##50x=30\left[ 0.1+\left( 0.1-x \right) \right] \Rightarrow x=0.075##
And it is correct. but then i used an other notation, like in the second drawing, where x is the distance from the wall and tried:
##50(0.1-x)=30(0.1+x)##
And it's wrong, i can't understand why