Question

Janet wants to find the spring constant of a given spring, so she hangs the spring vertically and attaches a 0.50 kg mass to the spring's other end. if the spring stretches 3.0 cm from its equilibrium position, what is the spring constant?

Answer 1

Given: Mass m = 0.50 Kg;     Force = Weight = mg   F = (0.50 Kg)(9.8 m/s²)

                                               F = 4.9 N      

Displacement  x = 3.0 cm   convert to meter   x = 0.03 m

Required: Spring constant  k = "

Formula:  F = kx

                k = F/x

                k = 4.9 N/0.03 m

                k = 163.33 N/m