Physics: Hooke's law

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Hooke's law In physics, Hooke's law is an empirical law which states that the force (F) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance (x) scales linearly with respect to that distance—that is, Fs = kx, where k is a constant factor characteristic of the spring (i.

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Source: Wikipedia

Hooke's law In physics, Hooke's law is an empirical la w which states that the force (F) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance (x) scales linearly with respect to that distance—that is, Fs = kx, where k is a constant factor characteristic of the spring (i.

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Why does Hooke's law matter? This principle is one of the building blocks physicists use to explain the world. Without it, a whole class of phenomena would have no mathematical description. Engineers, chemists, and astronomers all rely on it.

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Source: Wikipedia

Background: Hooke's law In physics, Hooke's law is an empirical law which states that the force (F) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance (x) scales linearly with respect to that distance—that is, Fs = kx, where k is a constant factor characteristic of the spring (i.e., its s tiffness), and x is small compared to the total possible deformation of the spring. The law is named after 17th-century British physicist Robert Hooke. He first stated the law in 1676 as a Latin anagram. He published the solution of his anagram in 1678 as: ut tensio, sic vis ("as the extension, so the force" or "the extension is proportional to the force"). Hooke states in the 1678 work that he was aware of the law since 1660. It is the fundamental principle behind the spring scale, the manometer, the galvanometer, and the balance wheel of the mechanical clock. The equation holds in many situations where an elastic body is deformed. An elastic body or material for which this equation can be assumed is said to be linear-elastic or Hookean. Hooke's law is a first-order linear approximation to the real response of springs and other elastic bodies to applied forces. It fails once the forces exceed some limit, since no material can be compressed beyond a certain minimum size, or stretched beyond a maximum size, without some permanent deformation or change of state. Many materials will noticeably deviate from Hooke's law well before those elastic limits are reached.