Passage II

Figure 1 shows a model of an amusement park ride. At time = 0 sec, the cart is released from rest at Point P. It descends the tower toward Point Q and strikes the spring. As the spring is compressed, it slows the carts descent and eventually rebounds, sending the cart back up the tower. Frictional forces act on the cart whenever it is in motion, and the spring never extends above Point Q. Figure 2 shows computer simulations of the cart's height (the distance from ground level to the bottom of the cart), its velocity, and its acceleration during the first 20 sec of motion.