Question

The spring in a toy rocket launcher has a spring constant of 80 N/m. How far must you compress the spring to cause it to exert a force of 2 N

Answer 1

Hooke's law can be use in this problem.

Formula: F = kx

Given: Spring constant k = 80 N/m; Force F = 2 N Solve for distance x = ?

x = F/k x = (2 N)/( 80 N/m) = 0.025 m

Answer 2

From F = ke where k is the spring constant and e is the compression or extension. So it follows that the compression e = F/k. So we have 2/80 = 0.025m. So we have that the spring must be compressed to a distance of 0.025m.