A pop-up toy with a spring constant of 100 newtons/meter and a mass of 0.005 kg is compressed 0.02 meter. What is the toy's spring potential energy?

Question

The answer should come up in joules.

Answer 1

The elastic potential energy of a spring is

U(x) = (1/2)kx²

k = 100 N/m

x = 0.02 m

Plug in the numbers and get U(x) in joules.