Question

Model a piston in an engine as a mass on a spring that is undergoing simple harmonic motion. The mass of the piston is 0.583 kg, and the period of the motion is 1.54 seconds. The motion has an amplitude of 0.0902 meters, meaning the distance between the center of the motion and each end of the motion. Assume that the mass starts out with the spring stretched as far as it is going to go, so that the phase constant is 0.

A. What is the spring constant of the spring?
______________ N*m

B. What is the velocity of the mass at time t = 1.02 seconds? Note: it's very possible to get a negative value for velocity - remember that the mass is going back and forth and so the velocity will be negative about half of the time. Hint: use radians.
_________ m/s

Answer 1