Hooke's Law Summary

Hooke’s Law

Provided the limit of proportionality is not exceeded:
Directly proportional means the graph passes through the origin and is a straight line.

The limit of proportionality is the point where the material stops obeying Hooke’s law.

$F = k \Delta x$

• $F$ is the applied force (load)
• $\Delta x$ is the extension
• $k$ is the spring constant

Sources of Error

• Rule or spring is not placed vertically.
• The meter rule should be close to the spring (to reduce parallax error).