Question

(Please see attached photo)

A weight of 5kg compresses the springs in parallel (image 2) by 10cm. What will be the approximate distance that the springs in series (image 1) are compressed using the same weight?

Answer 1

If the springs are identical, the springs in series (image 1) will compress twice as much as the springs in parallel (image 2) when the same weight is applied. So, if a weight of 5kg compresses the springs in parallel by 10cm, it will compress the springs in series by approximately 20cm. This is because in series, the same force is spread out over more springs, causing more compression.