Passage
Students investigated how far a spring stretches when different loads are hung from it. In every trial the spring hung vertically from a fixed support, and the stretch was measured as the increase in the spring's length below its unloaded position. The same ruler and the same support were used throughout.
Experiment 1: Using Spring A, the students hung loads of 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 grams (g) from the spring, one at a time, and recorded the stretch in centimeters (cm) for each load (Table 1).
| Load (g) | Stretch of Spring A (cm) |
|---|
| 100 | 2 |
| 200 | 4 |
| 300 | 6 |
| 400 | 8 |
| 500 | 10 |
Experiment 2: The students repeated the procedure of Experiment 1 using Spring B, a spring made of thicker wire, hanging the same set of loads from it and recording the stretch (Table 2).
| Load (g) | Stretch of Spring B (cm) |
|---|
| 100 | 1 |
| 200 | 2 |
| 300 | 3 |
| 400 | 4 |
| 500 | 5 |
In both experiments the loads were hung one at a time, and each spring returned to its original length after every load was removed.
