Question

An object is hung on a spring scale to determine its mass. What is the spring constant if the scale stretches 5.00 cm for a 15.0 kg load?

Answer 1

The spring constant of the spring is 2940 N/m.

Step-by-step explanation:

It is given that,

Mass of the load, m = 15 kg

The scale gets stretched to 5 cm or 0.05 m, x = 0.05 m

When an object is hung on a spring, the force of gravity is balanced by the force of gravity as :

`kx=mg`

Where

k is the spring constant of the spring

`k=(mg)/(x)`

`k=(15* 9.8)/(0.05)`

k = 2940 N/m

So, the spring constant of the spring is 2940 N/m. Hence, this is the required solution.