Chapter 14, Problem 14.67P

At the end of a ride at a winter-theme amusement park, a sleigh with mass 250 kg (including: two passengers) slides without friction along a horizontal, snow-covered surface. The sleigh hits one end of a light horizontal spring that obeys Hooke’s law and has its other end attached to a wall. The sleigh latches onto the end of the spring and subsequently moves back and forth in SHM on the end of the spring until a braking mechanism is engaged, which brings the sleigh to rest. The frequency of the SHM is 0.225 Hz, and the amplitude is 0.950 m. (a) What was the speed of the sleigh just before it hit the end of the spring? (b) What is the maximum magnitude of the sleigh’s acceleration during its SHM?