A 2.0 kg mass on a horizontal spring is pulled back 2.0 cm and released. If, instead, a 0.40 kg mass were used in this same experiment, the total energy of the system would: a. Remain the same.
b. Double.
c. Be half as large.

a. Remain the same.

Explanation:

The total energy of the spring mass system is given as

where k is the spring constant of the spring

           x is the compression or expansion of the spring

The energy of the spring mass system is always independent of mass. It does not depends on the mass object attached to the spring.

Therefore, the total energy of the system will remain the same in the experiment when the mass is changes the second time.