In the produce section of a supermarket, five pears are placed on a spring scale. The placement of the pears stretches the spring and causes the dial to move from zero to a reading of 2.0 kg. If the spring constant is 450 N/m, what is the displacement of the spring due to the weight of the pears?

Question

In the produce section of a supermarket, five pears are placed on a spring scale.  The placement of the pears stretches the spring and causes the dial to move from zero to a reading of 2.0 kg.  If the spring constant is 450 N/m, what is the displacement of the spring due to the weight of the pears?

anonymous · Answer

What've got so far?

anonymous · Answer

I imagine that this could be solved by making some assumptions: the wieght of the pears would be 19.6N given normal gravitational field strength (I'm assuming the supermarket is not at high altitude). From this value the displacement can be calculated using the given value of the spring constant.