Hook's law II
Verticle spring force


Description

A spring that hangs vertically acts in a similar way to a spring that is horizontal. The equilibrium position is the position of the end of the spring and weight hanger as they hang in a relaxed state. The position is pointed to by the horizontal arrow in the figure below.



The equilibrium position of a hanging spring can be changed by adding weights to the hanger. The force on the spring stretches it by a distance x given by Hooke's law F=-kx. This situation is shown in the figure below.



If more weight is added to the spring it will stretch even more and rests at a new equilibrium position. The movie shows that the vertical spring can oscillate about the equilibrium position in a similar manner to the horizontal spring.




Questions/Exercises:
  1. How would this demonstration be used to measure the spring constant?
  2. How would you apply Newton's second law to find the net force on the mass hanging on the end of the spring?
  3. How far would the spring stretch for a given mass if it was on a 30 degree incline instead of hanging?


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Please direct all comments or suggestions to Dr. David Tedeschi via e-mail.
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