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Hoping you could help with a question, a 58 kg physics student decides she wants

ID: 1471338 • Letter: H

Question

Hoping you could help with a question, a 58 kg physics student decides she wants to go bungee jumping from a 75 m high bridge above a river. She must calculate the minimum spring constant for the bungee cord which will allow her to complete the jump successfully. Assuming the minimum spring constant is one that allows her to descend the full 75 m and the bungee cord doesn't begin to stretch until she has fallen 15 m, find the minimum value of the spring constant of the bungee cord. (H = 0 at height where the bungee cord begins to stretch.) Hoping you could help with a question, a 58 kg physics student decides she wants to go bungee jumping from a 75 m high bridge above a river. She must calculate the minimum spring constant for the bungee cord which will allow her to complete the jump successfully. Assuming the minimum spring constant is one that allows her to descend the full 75 m and the bungee cord doesn't begin to stretch until she has fallen 15 m, find the minimum value of the spring constant of the bungee cord. (H = 0 at height where the bungee cord begins to stretch.)

Explanation / Answer

From the given data,

h = 75 m

extension of the cord, y = 75 - 15

= 60 m

Let k is the minimum spring constant.

Apply conservation of energy

Initial grvitational potentail energy = final elastic potential energy

m*g*h = 0.5*k*y^2

==> k = 2*m*g*h/y^2

= 2*58*9.8*75/60^2

= 23.68 N/m <<<<<<<<<<------------Answer