- #1
Felafel
- 171
- 0
Homework Statement
A spring cannon is used to shot horizontally a marble mall, whose mass is 75g, from a platform located 1.2 m from the ground. If the spring compression is 25 mm, the ball hits the ground 4,2m from the base of the platform. Not taking friction into account, determine:
1-the mechanical energy of the ball during the motion
2-the "k" constant factor of the spring
3-how far the ball would hit the ground if the compression were 37mm.
The Attempt at a Solution
With no friction, i can use the principle of conservation of energy
I want to compute the mechanical energy for the top of the platform.
##E_i=E_f## ##\Rightarrow## ##U_i+K_i=U_f+K_f##
But ##K_i = 0## because the ball is not moving yet, and ##U_f=0## So,
##U_i-K_f=E## ##\Rightarrow## ##E=\frac{1}{2} k x^2 - \frac{1}{2} m v^2##
However, I keep having two variables: velocity and k, and I don't know how to find the value of any of the two, even using other formulas. Can anyone give me a hint?