The centre of mass of a car drops by as it goes over a speed bump

PHYSICS · Subjective · A Level · Physics · Mechanics and materials · Mechanics and materials

Problem

The centre of mass of a

1200\,\text{kg}

car drops by

4.0\,\text{cm}

as it goes over a speed bump. The suspension springs compress a maximum of

5.0\,\text{cm}

in this process. If

60\%

of the loss in gravitational potential energy is stored elastically in the springs, determine the effective spring constant of the car’s suspension.