two springs having spring constants K1 and K2 are connected in series and then in parallel find the resulting spring constant (3 marks)
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Spring Constant+2
Two springs of spring constants k1 and k2 are joined in series. What will be the effective spring constant of the combination?
3 ANSWERS
Soham Sheel Saini
Soham Sheel Saini, Part Time Tutor (2015-present)
Answered Jul 17, 2017 · Author has 88 answers and 60.7k answer views
I'm assuming that when you say series, the springs are attached to each other, forming a long chain.
First off, for this type of question, you need to remember the fact that the force from a spring comes from how long it is stretched multiplied by its constant, k1 or k2. In series, both of these springs would not stretch equally, as they have different spring constants. So, we can come up with 2 equations f1= k1*x1-(1) and f2=k2*x2-(2).
Assuming a force F is applied on this system, the springs will stretch a combined total distance of X.
X=x1+x2-(3)
F=f1=f2-(4) (the force is the same throughout the whole system)
You can use equations 1–4 to find what the spring constant for this system,K is.
f1/k1=x1
f2/k2=x2
X=f1/k1 +f2/k2
X=F/k1 +F/k2
X=F(1/k1 + 1/k2)
X=F{(k1+k2)/(k1*k2)}
F={(k1*k2)/(k1+k2)}X
Therefore, K=(k1*k2)/(k1+k2)
hope u will understand the equations
