A Two-Body Collision with a Spring
A moving block collides with another moving block with a spring attached: (a) before the collision and (b) at one instant during the collision.
A block of mass m1 = 1.4 kg initially moving to the right with a speed of 4.3 m/s on a frictionless, horizontal track collides with a spring attached to a second block of mass m2 = 3.6 kg initially moving to the left with a speed of 2.1 m/s as shown in figure (a). The spring constant is 593N/m.
(A) Find the velocities of the two blocks after the collision.
(B) During the collision, at the instant block 1 is moving to the right with a velocity of 1.0 m/s as in figure (b), determine the velocity of block 2.
(C) Determine the distance the spring is compressed at that instant.