A rubber band has a spring constant of 18.6 N/m. If you stretch it 0.250 m, how much PEe is stored?

Answer 1

Potential Energy in springs can be calculated using the following formula:

PE(spring)= 1/2*k*(x²)

With:

k= spring constant

x= deformation of spring (elongation or compression)

For the given spring (rubber band) with k=18.6 N/m and an elongation x=0.250m, plugging into the above equation we get:

PE(spring)= 1/2*(18.6 N/m) * (0.250 m)²

PE(spring)= 0.58125 Joules

PE(spring)= 0.581 Joules (with 3 significant digits)