Questions
Q1.
A manufacturer gives the following information about a spring.
A student carried out an investigation on the spring to test this information.
She applied a range of forces from 0 N to 5 N to the spring. She measured the length of the spring and
recorded the extension for each force.
She plotted a graph of force against extension.
Determine the stiffness of the spring.
(3)
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Stiffness = ...........................................................
(Total for question = 3 marks)
Q2.
A school dynamics trolley has a plunger attached to a spring. When the plunger is pushed in, the spring is
compressed. When the plunger is released, it is pushed back out by the spring.
(a) A student investigated the spring to determine whether it obeys Hooke's law in compression.
The trolley was placed vertically in front of a scale and weights were added in turn to the top of the
plunger, as shown. The position of the end of the plunger was recorded each time.
The recorded results are shown in the table.
(i) Use the results to plot a graph of weight against compression. You may use the additional column
for your processed data.
(5)
(ii) The student concluded that the spring obeys Hooke's law with a spring constant of about 600 N m –
1
.
Determine whether the student's conclusion is justified.
(4)
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(b) Another trolley was adapted by placing a tube around the plunger so that it could be used to launch
marbles. A marble was placed in the tube while the plunger was depressed. When the plunger was
released it launched the marble.
Determine the maximum possible launch velocity of the marble when the spring is compressed by 5.4
cm.
spring constant = 610 N m–1
mass of marble = 4.1 g
mass of plunger = 35.4 g
(4)
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Maximum launch velocity = ...........................................................
(c) The launch velocity was measured using a light gate and data logger. This produced a smaller value
for the launch velocity than that calculated in (b).
Give a reason why this method produced a smaller value for the launch velocity.
(1)
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(Total for question = 14 marks)
Q3.
A student is investigating the extension of a spring.
A force of 29 N is applied to the spring and it extends by 32 cm. The spring obeys Hooke's law.
Calculate the extension of the spring when a force of 27 N is applied.
(2)
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Extension = ...........................................................
(Total for question = 2 marks)
Q4.
A spring obeys Hooke's law. A force of 2.0 N extends the spring by 0.30 m.
A 6.0 N force will extend the spring by
A 0.10 m
B 0.30 m
C 0.60 m
D 0.90 m
(Total for question = 1 mark)
Q5.
Three springs X, Y and Z have forces applied to them. For each spring a graph is plotted of length L of
the spring against force F. The graphs are shown below:
Which of the springs obey Hooke's law?
A X and Y
B X and Z
C Y and Z
D Y only
(Total for question = 1 marks)
Q6.
A spring is suspended from a bar. When a load of 6.0 N is added to the bottom of the spring, its length
changes from 0.040 m to 0.13 m.
To find the spring constant of the spring you would use
(Total for Question = 1 mark)
Q7.
The Hooke's law equation is:
ΔF = kΔx
Which of the following gives the base units of k?
A kg s−2
B kg m s−2
C Nm
D N m−1
(Total for question = 1 mark)
Q8.
A force meter measures force by making use of Hooke's Law.
The extension of a spring inside the force meter allows the magnitude of the force applied to be read from
a scale.
The spring in one type of force meter extends by 5.5 cm when a force of 2.5 N is applied.
(i) Show that the stiffness of the spring is about 50 N m−1.
(2)
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(ii) Two identical force meters of this type support a mass of 0.400 kg as shown.
Calculate the extension Δ x of each spring.
(4)
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Δ x = ...........................................................
(Total for question = 6 marks)
Q9.
Two identical springs are suspended from a fixed support and a force applied as shown in the diagram.
The spring constant of each spring is 80 N m−1.
The extension of this arrangement will be
A 5 cm
B 10 cm
C 20 cm
D 40 cm
(Total for question = 1 mark)
Q10.
In a conical spring the diameter of the coils increases over its length. The spring can be designed so that
each coil fits into the inner diameter of the next coil so they take up minimal space when fully
compressed.
A conical spring is compressed against a flat surface. The graph shows the force-displacement graph for
the spring as the compression force increases from 0 N to the point when the spring is fully compressed.
The spring obeys Hooke's law for small compression forces.
Determine a value for the spring constant of the spring for compression forces up to 60 N.
(2)
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Spring constant = ...........................................................
(Total for question = 2 marks)
Mark Scheme
Q1.
Q2.
Q3.
Q4.
Q5.
Q6.
Q7.
Q8.
Q9.
Q10.
