(Solved): In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail a cow is catapulted from the top of a castle wall over ...

In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail a cow is catapulted from the top of a castle wall over to the people down below. The gravitational potential energy is set to zero at ground level. The cow is launched from a spring of spring constant 1.9 x104 N/m that is expanded 0.5 m from equilibrium. The castle is 9.8 m tall and the mass of the cow is 600 kg. a. What is the gravitational potential energy?

In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail a cow is catapulted from the top of a castle wall over to the people down below. The gravitational potential energy is set to zero at ground level. The cow is launched from a spring of spring constant $1.9\times 10^4\mathrm{N}/\mathrm{m}$ that is expanded $0.5\mathrm{m}$ from equilibrium. The castle is $9.8\mathrm{m}$ tall and the mass of the cow is $600\mathrm{kg}$. a. What is the gravitational potential energy of the cow at the top of the castle? b. What is the elastic spring energy of the cow before the catapult is released? $\mathrm{J}$ c. What is the speed of the cow right before it lands on the ground? $\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ Hint: For Parts a. and b., use the relevant formulas for gravitational and elastic potential energy, respectively. For Part c., use conservation of energy, noting that initially the cow is at rest so the initial energy is all potential while the final energy is all kinetic.