Education Technology


Spring Constant

Activity Overview

Students explore the relationship between displacement and restoring force for an elastic spring.

Key Steps

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    Students first use a force sensor to collect data on the restoring force exerted by a spring when it is stretched to various lengths.

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    Students then examine a simulation of a spring to confirm the relationship they inferred from their collected data.

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    Next, students examine a second simulation of three springs. In this simulation, the three springs have the same amount of weight attached to them.