Question

You have been hired to design a spring-launched roller coaster that will carry two passengers per car. The car goes up a 12-m-high hill, then descends 18 m to the track's lowest point. You've determined that the spring can be compressed a maximum of 2.3 m and that a loaded car will have a maximum mass of 430 kg . For safety reasons, the spring constant should be 13 % larger than the minimum needed for the car to just make it over the top. What is the maximum speed of a 350 kg car if the spring is compressed the full amount?

Answer 1