Question

A spring is pulled down by a weight by 1.24 meters. The spring constant (k) is 330 N/m. What is the mass of the weight?

Answer 1

Given,

The extension of the spring due to the attached mass, x=1.24 m

The spring constant, k=330 N/m

The weight of a mass m is given by,

`F=mg`

Where g is the acceleration due to gravity,

The magnitude of the restoring force of a spring is given by,

`\begin{gathered} F=kx \\ \Rightarrow mg=kx \end{gathered}`

Therefore,

`m=(kx)/(g)`

On substituting the known values,

`\begin{gathered} m=(330*1.24)/(9.8) \\ =41.76\text{ kg} \end{gathered}`

Thus the mass of the weight is 41.76 kg