A basket of negligible weight hangs from a vertical spring scale of force constant 1500 n/m. if you suddenly put an adobe brick of mass 3.00 kg in the basket, find the maximum distance that the spring will stretch.

Refer to the diagram shown below.

k = 1500 N/m, the spring constant

W = (3 kg) * (9.8 m/s²) = 29.4 N, the weight of the brick

Let d = the deflection of the spring.

By definition,

W = k*d

d = (29.4 N) / (1500 N/m) = 0.0196 m

Answer: 0.0196 m

The maximum distance the spring will stretch is 3.92 cm or 0.0392 m.