A block of mass 1kg slides down a frictionless semicircular surface of radius 1m. The starting position is at an angle of about 37 degrees from the center of the circle. At the bottom of the semi - circle is a spring of spring constant k on a horizontal surface.
1. What is the potential energy of the block before It Is released relative to the bottom of the circle?
2. What is the kinetic energy and the speed of the block when it reaches the bottom?
3. The spring was chosen in such a way that it takes the same time to compress the spring as to slide down the semi - circle (you can model the frequency of the slide as a pendulum of length 1m) what is the spring constant?
4. How far does the spring get compressed maximally by the block?