Question

52. A compressed spring is clamped in its compressed
position and is then dissolved in an acid. Discuss
what happens to its potential energy.
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Answer 1

Answer:

please mark as briliant answer

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Your first assumption, that there would be a weakness in the material of the spring and it would suddenly break if corroded enough is what realistically would happen.

In your idealized situation each atom dissolved in the liquid had a proportional part of the potential energy of the stressed spring. As it looses its bonds with the surface, bonding with the molecules that corrode the material, its potential energy becomes kinetic energy of the new molecule and, due to the large number of atoms, it will be small enough to just turn into the heat energy of the liquid. In this process the potential energy of the spring will be gradually transformed to heat energy of the liquid, as is your guess.