Physics newtons laws of motion

Question

A 18 kg chimpanzee hangs from the end of a horizontal broken branch. The branch sags downward through the vertical distance of 9 cm . Treating the branch as a spring satisfying Hooke's law what is the springs constant

Answer 1

Hi Max,

So you know what Hooke's Law is, right? F=kx where F is a force (which you will need to find using g and the mass of the chimp), x is the deflection, and k is the spring constant.

I'm curious: Why didn't the branch break completely, that would be normal behaviour for wood? Why is the chimp continuing to simply hang there, rather than returning to safety (it would surely have felt a branch break)? .... Just to be on the safe side, you might want to carefully inspect any lab equipment setups your instructor provides, before using them, if you catch my drift.

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.