Question

In the following scenario, you are asked to explain the following energy changes for: 1) C, the cart, 2) S, the spring, 3) CE, cart / Earth, 4) CS, cart / spring, and 5) CSE, cart/ spring/ Earth. A spring is mounted horizontally on a flat table. A cart with frictionless bearings compresses the spring and is released at time t = 0. The spring pushes the cart, and the cart goes across the table before leaving the table. The cart is about to touch the floor at time t = T. Let C, S, CE, CS, and CSE be the mechanical energies of the cart, spring, cart-Earth, cart-spring, and cart-spring-Earth systems. Explain how each energy changes from t = 0 to t = T.

Answer 1