Student Exploration: Determining a Spring Constant
Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
Vocabulary: displacement, equilibrium, Hooke’s law, restoring force, slope, spring, spring constant, weight
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. At the grocery store, you put a watermelon on a produce scale. This causes the
spring to stretch as shown. How far will the spring stretch if you add another
watermelon of equal mass?
It will stretch down to 200N
2. What property allows springs to be used in scales?
Weight shows the weight of an object by showing the scale of the spring
force that’s opposite to the gravitational force
Gizmo Warm-up
When you put a grapefruit on a grocer’s scale, the scale may bounce up and
down a bit, but eventually it settles into an equilibrium state. At this point, the
force pulling the spring down is equal to the restoring force pulling the spring up.
You can explore these forces in the Determining a Spring Constant Gizmo.
To begin, check that Spring 1 is chosen and nothing is hanging from the spring.
1. What is the level of the bottom of the spring? 5 cm
2. Place the scale on the bottom of the spring. The scale has a mass of 20 grams. Wait for the spring to
stop moving. At this point it has reached equilibrium.
A. What is the level of the spring now? 5.75 cm
B. How much did the spring stretch? 0.75 cm This is the displacement of the spring.
3. Place mass C (20 grams) on the scale. What is the level of the spring? 6.25 cm
What is the total displacement of the spring from its original position? 1.25 cm
Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved
Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
Vocabulary: displacement, equilibrium, Hooke’s law, restoring force, slope, spring, spring constant, weight
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. At the grocery store, you put a watermelon on a produce scale. This causes the
spring to stretch as shown. How far will the spring stretch if you add another
watermelon of equal mass?
It will stretch down to 200N
2. What property allows springs to be used in scales?
Weight shows the weight of an object by showing the scale of the spring
force that’s opposite to the gravitational force
Gizmo Warm-up
When you put a grapefruit on a grocer’s scale, the scale may bounce up and
down a bit, but eventually it settles into an equilibrium state. At this point, the
force pulling the spring down is equal to the restoring force pulling the spring up.
You can explore these forces in the Determining a Spring Constant Gizmo.
To begin, check that Spring 1 is chosen and nothing is hanging from the spring.
1. What is the level of the bottom of the spring? 5 cm
2. Place the scale on the bottom of the spring. The scale has a mass of 20 grams. Wait for the spring to
stop moving. At this point it has reached equilibrium.
A. What is the level of the spring now? 5.75 cm
B. How much did the spring stretch? 0.75 cm This is the displacement of the spring.
3. Place mass C (20 grams) on the scale. What is the level of the spring? 6.25 cm
What is the total displacement of the spring from its original position? 1.25 cm
Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved
