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

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

a)spring force F = kx

and for equilibrium position , spring force = gravitational force

mg = kx

10 x 9.8 = k(0.1)

k =980 N/m

b) mg =kx

98m = 980 (1.5)

m = 15 kg

c) 5* 9.8 = 980 (x)

x = 0.05 m

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