Solution: A thrill-seeking cat with mass 4.00 kg is attached

Chapter 14, Problem 14.39

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A thrill-seeking cat with mass 4.00 kg is attached by a harness to an ideal spring of negligible mass and oscillates vertically in SHM. The amplitude is 0.050 m, and at the highest point of the motion the spring has its natural unstretched length. Calculate the elastic potential energy of the spring (take it to be zero for the unstretched spring), the kinetic energy of the cat, the gravitational potential energy of the system relative to the lowest point of the motion, and the sum of these three energies when the cat is (a) at its highest point; (b) at its lowest point; (c) at its equilibrium position.