Question

You perform the Hooke's Law experiment and create a plot of Displacement vs. Force. You add a linear fit and find the following equation for the line: 0.192 0.011 What is the spring constant, k (in N/m or kg/s2)?

Answer 1

Answer: 0.192 N/m

Explanation:

Well, generally when a Hooke's Law experiment is performed the plot is in fact Force vs Displacement, being the Force (in units of Newtons) in the Y-axis and the Displacement (in units of meters) in the X-axis.

In addition, if we add a linear fit the resultant equation will be the Line equation of the form:

$Y=mX+b$

Where $m=\frac{Y_{2}-Y_{1}}{X_{2}-X_{1}}$ is the slope and $b$ is the point where the line intersects the Y-axis.

So, if the equation is:

$Y=0.192X+0.011$

The slope of this line is $0.192 N/m$ which is also the spring constant $k$.