Question

A compressed spring has 16.2 J of elastic potential energy when it is compressed 0.30 m. What is the spring constant of the spring? 90 N/m 108 N/m 180 N/m 360 N/m

Answer 1

Elastic potential = 1/2 x constant x square of compression lenght
So it's 360 N/m

Answer 2

Answer: 360 N/m

Explanation:

The elastic potential energy of a spring is given by

$E=\frac{1}{2}kx^2$

where

k is the spring constant

x is the compression/stretching of the spring

In this problem, we know the elastic potential energy, E=16.2 J, and the compression, x=0.30 m. Therefore, we can re-arrange the formula to calculate the spring constant k:

$k=\frac{2E}{x^2}=\frac{2\cdot 16.2 J}{(0.30 m)^2}=360 N/m$