Science calculator

Hooke's law.

Find force, spring constant, extension or elastic potential energy. Choose the relationship, enter the known values and leave one blank.

Force F
F=kxE=12kx2

Assumptions

  • The spring or elastic object is within its limit of proportionality, so F is proportional to x.
  • Extension is measured from the natural, unloaded length.
  • The spring constant is constant and positive over the motion considered.
  • Elastic energy is recoverable; damping, heating and permanent deformation are neglected.

How it works

Within the proportional region, doubling a spring's extension doubles its restoring-force magnitude. The gradient of a force–extension graph is k.

Elastic potential energy is the triangular area under that graph, giving one half kx squared. Solving for x returns the non-negative extension magnitude.

Leave one box blank to rearrange the selected equation. Values are converted to SI internally and rounded only for display.