Hooke's Law

Understanding Hooke’s Law

• Hooke’s Law describes the relationship between the force applied to a spring and the extension of the spring.
• This law is named after the scientist Robert Hooke, who discovered the principle.
• According to Hooke’s Law, the extension of a spring is directly proportional to the force applied to it until the elastic limit is reached.
• The elastic limit is the maximum extent to which a material can be extended without permanently deforming. Beyond this point, Hooke’s Law no longer applies.

Mathematical Representation of Hooke’s Law

• Mathematically, Hooke’s Law is represented as F = ke, where ‘F’ is the force applied, ‘k’ is the spring constant, and ‘e’ is the extension.
• The spring constant (k) is a measure of the stiffness of the spring. It is expressed in newtons per metre (N/m).
• Larger values of ‘k’ represent a stiffer spring.

Practical Application of Hooke’s Law

• Hooke’s Law has many practical applications in real life such as in the design of suspension systems in vehicles and in the study of biological tissues.
• The principle of Hooke’s Law is also used in various scientific and engineering contexts, like the study of molecular bonds or seismic activity.
• Observing how substances behave under different forces can help identify their elastic limits and therefore suitability for various applications.

Graphical Representation of Hooke’s Law

• A graph plotting the force applied to a spring against its extension will produce a straight line up to the point of the spring’s elastic limit.
• Beyond the elastic limit, the graph line will begin to curve, indicating that the spring is being permanently deformed and is no longer obeying Hooke’s Law.
• The gradient of the line in a force-extension graph represents the spring constant.