Simple Harmonic Motion of a hanging spring

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
3 replies · 2K views
Winegar12
Messages
11
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


A 450 g object oscillates from a vertically hanging light spring once every .55 s. The object is released with the spring compressed by 10 cm from the equilibrium position. What is the velocity of the object 3.00 s after it is released?

Homework Equations


v=-[tex]\omega[/tex]Asin([tex]\omega[/tex]t+[tex]\phi[/tex]0)
[tex]\Delta[/tex]L=mg/k

The Attempt at a Solution


Ok so I have found that [tex]\omega[/tex] is equal to 11.4. I tried to figure out k by putting it into the 2nd equation and found that it is equal to .075. I then subtracted that from .1 m (10 cm) which I thought was suppose to give me the A which I found to be .025. Obviously t is 3 s. I thought for [tex]\phi[/tex] it was equal to pi, but apparently I am wrong. Because when I put it into the equation to get velocity the answer is wrong. So I'm pretty sure that I have my angular frequency right, but I am either wrong on my amplitude (A) or on [tex]\phi[/tex]. But I'm not really sure. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Your amplitude is 0.1, the amplitude is how far it is compressed at the starting point by conservation of energy. [itex]\phi[/itex] is 0 as your intial position is at the position where amplitude is max i.e. where [itex]\omega t + \phi = 0[/itex] and then you should be able to get an answer.

I got -1.10 as an answer
 
I tried using 0 as well, but that answer isn't right either. I know the final answer is -.335 m/s...
 
Amplitude is definitely 0, otherwise we need a new source of energy, as the mass is at rest at t=0, and [itex]\phi[/itex] must be similarly so for the same reason as above.

I've just noticed that I used cos instead of sin in my original answer, using sin I get an answer of -0.322m/s which is a bit better.