A person wants to figure out the spring constant of a spring he found in a junky

Question

A person wants to figure out the spring constant of a spring he found in a junkyard so that he can use it to measure the inertias of other objects in the yard. First, he needs to calibrate it (hold a meter stick next to it and take measurements of compression lengths under load). So, he puts an object with inertia 10kg on the spring and measures a compression of 0.1m when it comes to rest.

(a)What is the spring constant?

(b)This person now puts a box of unknown inertia on the spring, which compresses the spring by 0.15m. What is the inertia of the box?

(c)If this person put a 5kg box on the same spring, how much would the spring compress?

Explanation / Answer

Force in spring F=-k*x and F=m*g

=>-k*x =m*g => k= 10*9.81/0.1=981N/m.........................part a

b) k*x=m*g =>981*0.15 =m*9.81 =>m=981*0.15 /9.81 =15kg

c) k*x=m*g =>x=5*9.81/981 =0.05m

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