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Re: Physics/ Math people
Could you do it with potential energy? Find the potential energy of the spring at the beginning and end of it's travel (you probably won't expend it all - I know our kicker stops short of the full spring extension) and the ∆PE is (almost) all transformed into KE.
∆PE is equal to the work done to draw it back (F*distance), which is also the integral of the graph force over distance (F=-kx, for a perfect spring). If you know how much force it takes to pull your kicker back the distance to the point you want, then that (F*d) would be equal to (1/2)m(v final)^2.
To those who are more experienced with physics than I: was I making this up out of the whole cloth? It seems reasonable to me, but I'm guessing.
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