OCR M3 2013 January — Question 5

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleM3 (Mechanics 3)
Year2013
SessionJanuary
TopicMomentum and Collisions 2

5 A particle \(P\), of mass 2.5 kg , is in equilibrium suspended from a fixed point \(A\) by a light elastic string of natural length 3 m and modulus of elasticity 36.75 N . Another particle \(Q\), of mass 1 kg , is released from rest at \(A\) and falls freely until it reaches \(P\) and becomes attached to it.
  1. Show that the speed of the combined particles, immediately after \(Q\) becomes attached to \(P\), is \(2 \sqrt { 2 } \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\). The combined particles fall a further distance \(X \mathrm {~m}\) before coming to instantaneous rest.
  2. Find a quadratic equation satisfied by \(X\), and show that it simplifies to \(35 X ^ { 2 } - 56 X - 80 = 0\).