Practice Spring Force in Physics

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

The restoring force exerted by a spring, proportional to how much it's stretched or compressed.

Stretch a spring twice as far, it pulls back with exactly twice as much force.

Example 1

easy
A spring with spring constant k = 150 \text{ N/m} is stretched 0.2 \text{ m} from its natural length. What is the restoring force?

Example 2

medium
A spring stretches 0.04 \text{ m} when a 2 \text{ kg} mass is hung from it. What is the spring constant? How much will it stretch with a 5 \text{ kg} mass? Use g = 9.8 \text{ m/s}^2.

Example 3

medium
A spring with k = 200 \text{ N/m} is compressed by 0.15 \text{ m}. Find the spring force and the elastic potential energy stored.

Example 4

medium
A spring (k = 300 \text{ N/m}) is compressed by 0.15 \text{ m}. What force does it exert, and how much elastic potential energy is stored?

Example 5

hard
Two springs are connected in series: k_1 = 200 \text{ N/m} and k_2 = 300 \text{ N/m}. A 12 \text{ N} force is applied. What is the total extension?