Question

Work of 2 joules is done in stretching a spring from its natural length to 11 cm beyond its natural length. what is the force (in newtons) that holds the spring stretched at the same distance (11 cm)

Answer 1

The law applied here is Hooke's Law which describes the force exerted by the spring with a given distance. The equation for this is F = kΔx, where F is the force in Newtons, k is the spring constant in N/m while Δx is the displacement in meters.

If you want to find work done by a spring, this can be solved by using differential equations. However, derived equations are already ready for use. The equation is

W = k[{x₂-x₁)² - (x₁-xn)²],

where 
xn is the natural length
x₁ is the stretched length 
x₂ is also the stretched length when stretched even further than x₁

In this case xn =x₁. So, that means that (x₁-xn) = 0 and (x₂-x₁) = 11 cm or 0.11 m.

Then, substituting the values,

2 J = k (0.11² -0²)
k = 165.29 N/m

Finally, we use the value of k to the Hooke's Law to determine the Force.

F = kΔx = (165.29 N/m)(0.11 m)
F = 18.18 Newtons