An automobile with a spring force constant physics problem?


Posted March 16th, 2010 by admin 1 Comment »
automobile
JH asked:


An automobile having a mass of 5000 kg is driven into a brick wall in a safety test. The bumper behaves like a spring of force constant 6.00 106 N/m and compresses 3.18 cm as the car is brought to rest. What was the speed of the car before impact, assuming that no mechanical energy is lost during impact with the wall?

When an automobile engine overheats and the radiator water begins to boil, the car can still be driven some?


Posted January 10th, 2010 by admin 9 Comments »
automobile
Ashley asked:


When an automobile engine overheats and the radiator water begins to boil, the car can still be driven some distance before catastrophic engine damage occurs. Why? What determines the onset of really disastrous overheating?
This is a physics problem I am trying to figure out.