How do I find mass in this equation?

[Saucetray]

Homework Statement

A child’s toy that is made to shoot ping pong balls consists of a tube, a spring (k = 18 N/m) and a catch for the spring that can be released to shoot the balls. When a ball is loaded into the tube, it compresses the spring 9.5 cm. If you shoot a ping pong ball straight up out of this toy, how high will it go?

Homework Equations

I know how to solve this... one thing gets in my way: the mass. The solution says it's .0027 but I hardly find that plausible.

The Attempt at a Solution

I used f=kx and f = mg so mg=kx and m(9.81) = (18*.095m)
My answer is like .17 not .0027.. any ideas?

 

[gneill]

The problem does not ask for you to find the mass of the ping pong ball, it asks for you to find the height achieved by said ball. The problem statement should have provided the mass of the ping pong ball. Without it you cannot solve the problem.

With missing data it is often possible to resort to a web search. If you google for the mass of a ping pong ball you'll find that the mass of a so-called official ping pong ball is 2.7 grams, or 0.0027 kg.

 

[haruspex]

The solution says it's .0027

The solution says what is .0027? From gneill's post, I'm guessing it says that's the mass (in kg).

I used f=kx and f = mg so mg=kx

What circumstance corresponds to equating those two forces? Think about it.

 

[ehild]

Homework Statement

When a ball is loaded into the tube, it compresses the spring 9.5 cm.

The problem text is wrong. It can not be the ball that compresses the spring by 9.5 cm. If the ball is compressed by the ball alone, the ball would never shot up.