Chapter 14

Four passengers with combined mass 250 kg compress the springs of a car with worn-out shock absorbers by 4.00 cm when they get in. Model the car and passengers as a single body on a single ideal spring. If the loaded car has a period of vibration of 1.92 s, what is the period of vibration of the empty car?

At the end of a ride at a winter-theme amusement park, a sleigh with mass 250 kg (including two passengers) slides without friction along a horizontal, snow-covered surface. The sleigh hits one end of a light horizontal spring that obeys Hooke's law and has its other end attached to a wall. The sleigh latches onto the end of the spring and subsequently moves back and forth in SHM on the end of the spring until a braking mechanism is engaged, which brings the sleigh to rest. The frequency of the SHM is 0.225 Hz, and the amplitude is 0.950 m. (a) What was the speed of the sleigh just before it hit the end of the spring? (b) What is the maximum magnitude of the sleigh's acceleration during its SHM?

A 1.50-kg, horizontal, uniform tray is attached to a vertical ideal spring of force constant 185 N/m and a 275-g metal ball is in the tray. The spring is below the tray, so it can oscillate up and down. The tray is then pushed down to point \(A\), which is 15.0 cm below the equilibrium point, and released from rest. (a) How high above point \(A\) will the tray be when the metal ball leaves the tray? (\(Hint\): This does \(not\) occur when the ball and tray reach their maximum speeds.) (b) How much time elapses between releasing the system at point \(A\) and the ball leaving the tray? (c) How fast is the ball moving just as it leaves the tray?

A 10.0-kg mass is traveling to the right with a speed of 2.00 m/s on a smooth horizontal surface when it collides with and sticks to a second 10.0-kg mass that is initially at rest but is attached to a light spring with force constant 170.0 N/m. (a) Find the frequency, amplitude, and period of the subsequent oscillations. (b) How long does it take the system to return the first time to the position it had immediately after the collision?

An apple weighs 1.00 N. When you hang it from the end of a long spring of force constant 1.50 N/m and negligible mass, it bounces up and down in SHM. If you stop the bouncing and let the apple swing from side to side through a small angle, the frequency of this simple pendulum is half the bounce frequency. (Because the angle is small, the back-and-forth swings do not cause any appreciable change in the length of the spring.) What is the unstretched length of the spring (with the apple removed)?

An object with height \(h\), mass \(M\), and a uniform cross-sectional area \(A\) floats upright in a liquid with density \(\rho\). (a) Calculate the vertical distance from the surface of the liquid to the bottom of the floating object at equilibrium. (b) A downward force with magnitude \(F\) is applied to the top of the object. At the new equilibrium position, how much farther below the surface of the liquid is the bottom of the object than it was in part (a)? (Assume that some of the object remains above the surface of the liquid.) (c) Your result in part (b) shows that if the force is suddenly removed, the object will oscillate up and down in SHM. Calculate the period of this motion in terms of the density \(\rho\) of the liquid, the mass \(M\), and the cross- sectional area A of the object. You can ignore the damping due to fluid friction (see Section 14.7).

An object with mass 0.200 kg is acted on by an elastic restoring force with force constant 10.0 N/m. (a) Graph elastic potential energy \(U\) as a function of displacement \(x\) over a range of \(x\) from \(-\)0.300 m to \(+\)0.300 m. On your graph, let 1 cm \(=\) 0.05 J vertically and 1 cm \(=\) 0.05 m horizontally. The object is set into oscillation with an initial potential energy of 0.140 J and an initial kinetic energy of 0.060 J. Answer the following questions by referring to the graph. (b) What is the amplitude of oscillation? (c) What is the potential energy when the displacement is one-half the amplitude? (d) At what displacement are the kinetic and potential energies equal? (e) What is the value of the phase angle \(\phi\) if the initial velocity is positive and the initial displacement is negative?

A 2.00-kg bucket containing 10.0 kg of water is hanging from a vertical ideal spring of force constant 450 N/m and oscillating up and down with an amplitude of 3.00 cm. Suddenly the bucket springs a leak in the bottom such that water drops out at a steady rate of 2.00 g/s. When the bucket is half full, find (a) the period of oscillation and (b) the rate at which the period is changing with respect to time. Is the period getting longer or shorter? (c) What is the shortest period this system can have?

A uniform beam is suspended horizontally by two identical vertical springs that are attached between the ceiling and each end of the beam. The beam has mass 225 kg, and a 175-kg sack of gravel sits on the middle of it. The beam is oscillating in SHM with an amplitude of 40.0 cm and a frequency of 0.600 cycle/s. (a) The sack falls off the beam when the beam has its maximum upward displacement. What are the frequency and amplitude of the subsequent SHM of the beam? (b) If the sack instead falls off when the beam has its maximum speed, repeat part (a).

A 5.00-kg partridge is suspended from a pear tree by an ideal spring of negligible mass. When the partridge is pulled down 0.100 m below its equilibrium position and released, it vibrates with a period of 4.20 s. (a) What is its speed as it passes through the equilibrium position? (b) What is its acceleration when it is 0.050 m above the equilibrium position? (c) When it is moving upward, how much time is required for it to move from a point 0.050 m below its equilibrium position to a point 0.050 m above it? (d) The motion of the partridge is stopped, and then it is removed from the spring. How much does the spring shorten?