Springs & Hooke’s Law

Stretch is proportional to force

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Hooke's law: $F = kx$, valid up to the elastic limit.
• The slope of a force–extension graph is the spring constant.
• Springs side by side are stiffer (2k); end to end, softer (k/2).

Steps

1. Hooke’s law
2. Measure the stiffness
3. How far?
4. Two springs
5. Energy in a spring
6. Too far