Recent content by superalias

Yes, it makes sense that Hooke's Law will only apply over a limited distance, and strange calculation results would imply that it's no longer valid for the situation. Thanks for the replies!

Hello, and thank you! Yes, I tried to think of it that way too; they should be equivalent cases. So: With two springs, the top one compresses 10cm under its own weight. The bottom one compresses 10 cm under its own weight. The bottom one also compresses some under the top one's weight… but...

Assuming idealized springs under Hooke's Law: A spring 1m in length, mounted on the ground, compresses 10cm under its own weight. Next to it is a spring identical in material, construction, etc., but 2m long with twice the mass. If I understand correctly, doubled weight alone would...

Thank you for the reply! It may be a silly picture, but I was envisioning limbless cubes as the simplest example, avoiding any complications involving falling on limbs or not doing so. I should have made that clear, and not mentioned bones at all, sorry… but, perhaps it shouldn't matter...

"... a man is broken, a horse splashes." "You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes." — J.B.S. Haldane, biologist No surprise there, given that the bigger the...

Thanks for the confirmation! Of course, an answer here just leads to more questions there… but that's for other threads down the road. Thanks again!

I'd also like to thank Doc Al and technician for the answers. I missed this thread last month when I asked nearly the same question: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=576713 Incidentally, I received a not-as-helpful answer from the askthephysicist.com site when I inquired there...

Thank you for the quick reply. To clarify the v I speak of, I don't mean initial velocity as a projectile; I mean velocity upon impact, including any added velocity from falling. The spring, of course, has no way of "knowing" whether that v came from falling alone, or from projectile firing +...

This is my first post and I'm still a wee physics newbie, though I've learned much from these great forums in the past. I'm looking into the degree of deformation of compressible materials (say, foam, ground, etc.) subjected to force. It's my understanding that I can use the behavior of...