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More On Coil Springs  • Slinky History Richard and Betty James invented the slinky. More Lab Lessons on Coil Springs • How Does A Spring Scale Work? Hooke's Law • Force and Pressure • Spring Scale Dissection Project

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) observed that when an elastic body is subjected to stress its dimension or shape changes in proportion to the applied stress over a range of stresses. In 1678, Robert Hooke, on the basis of his experiments with springs, stretching wires, and coils, stated a rule between extension and force.This led to Hooke's law which states that strain, the relative change in dimension, is proportional to stress. If the stress applied to a body goes beyond a certain value known as the elastic limit, the body does not return to its original state once the stress is removed. Hooke's law applies only in the region below the elastic limit. Algebraically, this rule has the following form: F = kx Hooke's Law explained the science behind coil springs. 

Mechanical Design Guidelines for Springs
Like most other fundamental mechanisms, metal coil springs have existed since the Bronze Age. How to design and calculate a spring.

Spring Physics
A spring can be defined to be an elastic member which exerts a resisting force when its shape is changed. Most springs are assumed linear and obey Hooke's Law.

Hooke's Law
Automobile suspensions, playground toys and even retractable ball-point pens employ springs.  Most springs have an easily predicted behavior when a force is applied. Laboratory exercise demonstating Hooke's Law.

Springs: Hooke's Law and Elastic
"Hooke's Law" is about stretching springs and wires.

Lab Lesson: Hooke's Law and the Work done by a Spring
Purpose: To verify Hooke's law for springs, and determine the spring constant which characterizes the force exerted by a spring. To verify the relationship the amount of work done by a spring as it is stretched.

Robert Hooke Biography
Hooke was perhaps the single greatest experimental scientist of the seventeenth century.

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