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Estimate the spring constant for each of the four springs on a 1260kg car...?
General Physics Question:
Estimate the spring constant for each of the four springs on a 1260kg car if the static weight of the car causes the springs to compress 10.0cm.
Use Hooke's Law: F = -kx
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be looking for four different values.. or what..
I got that the spring constant, k = 123480 N/m but do I divide it by four because they are distributed equally?
1 Answer
- ?Lv 77 years ago
Weight = mg = 1260 x 9.81 = 12,361N
We have to assume the weight is evenly distributed - so each spring supports 1/4 of the weight. We have to also assume the four springs are identical.
Force on each spring = 12,361/4 = 3,090N
Compression (e) = 10cm = 0.1m
F = ke = 3,090/0.1 = 30,900 N/m
SInce this is an estimate (not accurate), we should round to only 1 or 2 significant figures. I would say each spring has a spring constant = 31,000 N/m