PYL 105

Hooke's Law

Finding the spring constant



An object is elastic if

Our example of an elastic object will be a spring. You can apply a force that stretches or compresses it. The force that opposes the applied force is called the restoring force. If the restoring force is proportional to the amount of deformation, the object is said to obey Hooke's law.

One can study a spring from a force point of view or from an energy point of view.  We will look at a static spring from a force point of view and a moving (kinetic) case from an energy point of view.



Static Case

Mass including hanger
(    )
Distance L from sensor to hanger (   ) Displacement x
(    )
Applied Force
(   )
       
       
       
       
       
       
Spring constant (   )  
Equilibrium position (   )  


Kinetic Case

Mass including hanger including half of mass of spring
(    )
Distance L from sensor to hanger (   ) Displacement x
(    )
Applied Force
(   )
       
       
       
       
       
       


Find the spring parameters if the spring's mass (half of it) is accounted for.

Spring constant (   )  
Equilibrium position (   )