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.

11. At time = 7 sec, the bottom of the cart is approximately how far above or below Point P?

Answer and Explanation

Your Answer is

Correct Answer is C

Explanation

Look at the picture of height in figure 2. When the abscissa is 7 sec, the ordinate is about 40m, which refers to the height of the cart from the ground. But note that the question stem asks how far above or below Point P. From figure 1, it can be known that Point P is the place where the cart is located when the time is 0 sec, and the height here is 50 m, so 50-40=10 m, the position at 7 sec is 10 m below Point P, and option C should be selected 10 m below