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.

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

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