Question

If a 40 kg gymnast and a 400 kg sumo wrestler each dropped from 1 m above the trampoline, find the final position of each athlete. Assume the trampoline is a simple spring obeying Hooke's law with a k value of 12 000 N/m.

Answer 1

at rest, final deformation , the trampoline provides potential energy of
(1/2) kx^2 = m g (h+x), from the height plus the deformation