By how much is the energy stored in a Hooke's law spring increased when its stretch is increased from 8.00 cm to 16.0 cm?
A)100%
B)200%
C)300 %
D) The correct answer is not given.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The energy stored in a Hooke's law spring is given by the formula U = (1/2)kx^2, where k is the spring constant and x is the displacement from equilibrium. Since the displacement is proportional to the stretch, we can ignore the units and use the ratio of the stretches to determine the change in energy.

The initial stretch is 8.00 cm and the final stretch is 16.0 cm, which is a factor of 2. Therefore, the energy stored in the spring is increased by a factor of (2^2) = 4. This is equivalent to a 300% increase, so the answer is (C).

By How Much Is the Energy Stored in a Hooke's