Question

The potential energy of a spring is a. inversely proportional to the square of the amount b. the spring that is stretched from its equilibrium length. c. proportional to the square of the amount the spring that is stretched from its equilibrium length. d. proportional to the amount the spring that is stretched from its equilibrium length.

Answer 1

Answer:

c) proportional to the square of the amount the spring that is stretched from its equilibrium length

Explanation:

according to Hooke's law, the elastic potential energy of a spring is:

$U_e=\frac{1}{2}*k*x^2$

where:

K is the spring constant

x is the distance that the spring's is compressed.

as you can notice the distance is squared, so the energy is proportional to the square of the compressed distance.