Hooke's Law and Work; easy problem, I shouldn't have trouble, but I get it wrong

B3NR4Y
Gold Member
Messages
170
Reaction score
8

Homework Statement


A string of natural length 10 in. stretches 1.5 in. under a weight of 8-lb. Find the work done in stretching the spring from its natural length to a length of 14 in.

Homework Equations


\begin{equation}
W= \int_a^b \, f(x)dx
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
f(x)=kx
\end{equation}

The Attempt at a Solution


\begin{equation}
8=k(\frac{3}{2})
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
k=\frac{16}{3}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
W=\frac{16}{3} \int_0^4 \, xdx
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
W= \frac{16}{3} \, (\frac{1}{2} x^{2} |^{4}_{0})
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\frac{2048}{9}
\end{equation}
Book says the answer is:
\begin{equation}
\frac{128}{3} ft-lbs.
\end{equation}
 
Physics news on Phys.org
*facepalm* Gotta love arithmetic mistakes.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top