Question

As a student in a physics lab, you are asked to classify two springs. Right away you notice some differences. The first spring, spring 1, is very easy to compress and pliable. The second spring, spring 2, is stiffer and more difficult to deform. What qualitative statement can you make about their spring constants?

A. No inference can be made, the student needs to take a measurement.
B. The spring constant of spring 1 is larger than spring 2.
C. The spring constant of spring 2 is larger than spring 1.
D. The spring constants are the same because spring 1 has more displacement, while spring 2 requires more force.

Answer 1

The stiffer spring 2 has a larger spring constant compared to the more pliable and easier to compress spring 1, as stiffness is directly related to the spring's force constant.

Step-by-step explanation:

The qualitative statement that can be made about the spring constants of the two springs is that the spring constant of spring 2 is larger than that of spring 1. This is because spring 2 is described as stiffer and more difficult to deform, which indicates a larger force constant according to Hooke's Law. In physics, the spring constant (k) is a measure of the stiffness of a spring, and the larger the spring constant, the stiffer the spring and the greater the restoring force needed to deform it. Therefore, since spring 1 is easy to compress and pliable, it has a smaller spring constant, while the stiffer spring 2 has a larger spring constant.