Question

Question 17 of 25

You place a book on top of a spring and push down, compressing the spring
by 10 cm. When you let go of the book, it is pushed up by the spring. Which
statement describes what happens to the energy of the spring-book system?
A. The kinetic energy of the system decreases.
B. The elastic potential energy of the system increases.
C. The gravitational potential energy of the system decreases.
D. The total energy of the system remains constant.

Answer 1

When you compress the spring by 10 cm, you are doing work on the system, which increases the elastic potential energy of the spring-book system. When you let go of the book, the spring expands and releases the stored potential energy, which is converted back into kinetic energy of the book as it is pushed up. Therefore, the answer is:

B. The elastic potential energy of the system increases.