Question

A wooden block is at rest on a frictionless horizontal surface and is connected to a spring (k =150 N/m). The mass of the wooden block is 0.10 kg. A bullet (mass 0.012 kg) and velocity 270 m/s is fired horizontally into the wooden block. After collision the bullet stays in the block. (a) Find the speed of the bullet-block system right after the collision. (b) If the bullet-block system compresses the spring by a maximum of d. Find d

Answer 1

Use momentum conservation principle to find the speed right after collision and conservation of energy principle after collision where the kinetic energy after collision is converted to potential energy of spring.