Spring force and Hooke's law – basic principles
How it works
Hooke's law describes the relationship between the displacement of a spring and the force acting on it. The spring force (F) is proportional to the displacement (s): F = D·s, where D is the spring constant. The direction of the spring force is always opposite to the displacement. The unit of spring force is Newton (N), that of displacement is meter (m), and that of the spring constant is Newton per meter (N/m). The law applies only in the elastic range, before the spring is permanently deformed. The spring constant is a measure of how stiff a spring is.
The force acting on a spring is proportional to the displacement: F = D·s. The spring constant D indicates how much force per meter of displacement is required. Hooke's law applies only in the elastic range of the spring.
An example
A spring is stretched by 0.2 m. The spring constant is 30 N/m. How large is the spring force?
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50 Exercises
To the learning unit →Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: Physics. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.