What is a spring?
A spring is an elastic object that exerts a restoring force when stretched or compressed to return the spring to its original form or location.
What is elastic?
An elastic object is any object that will return to its original shape and length when stretched or compressed.
What is the elastic limit?
The elastic limit is the maximum amount an object can be stretched or compressed without altering the permanent shape or size of the object.
What is energy?
Energy is the ability to do work.
What is potential energy?
Potential energy is energy that is stored for later use due to an object’s current position relative to some other position.
What is gravity?
Gravity is an attractive force exerted on one object by another object due to the objects’ masses and distance apart.
What is a spring constant?
The spring constant is a measure of the stiffness of a spring. The stiffer the spring, the larger the spring constant and the harder it is to stretch or compress the spring.
What is displacement?
Displacement is a measure of how far an object is from its starting position.
What is Hooke’s Law?
Hooke’s Law describes how applied forces affect the displacement of an elastic object within the elastic limit of the object. Within the elastic limit of an object, the amount of force is equal to the negative value of the spring constant of the object times the displacement of the object.
Springs are useful tools for studying forces. In this module, you’ll investigate Hooke's Law and springs.
