An object is attached to a hanging unstretched ideal and massless spring and slowly lowered to its equilibrium position,a distance of 6.4 cm below the starting point.If instead of having been lowered slowly the object was dropped from rest,how far then would it then stretch the spring at maximum elongation?
A) 13 cm
B) 9.1 cm
C) 6.4 cm
D) 18 cm
E) 26 cm

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When the object is dropped, it converts its gravitational potential energy into elastic potential energy at maximum elongation. The maximum stretch is twice the equilibrium stretch, so 2 * 6.4 cm = 12.8 cm, which rounds to 13 cm.

An Object Is Attached to a Hanging Unstretched Ideal and Massless