Is it the case that we want the spring to have zero length, or is it the case that the spring wants to instead just have no "resistance"? That's because I've seen springs whose "ground state" is actually pretty long and loose. And to add on to that, is there a way we can determine how long the "ground state" for a spring? AKA is there some sort of unit of measurement for it?
buggy213
this is an extremely simple model. different springs have different "ground states", which would probably be based mostly on their geometry? in any case, this model breaks down eventually when you stretch out the spring too much, and you cause plastic deformation
agao25
Agree with @buggy213, I'm a little confused about why the spring wants to have zero length as opposed to zero displacement? Is this just an assumption we're making because we're considering an idealized spring? The "ground state" of a spring is usually something that is given to us in a problem, or we're finding based off of geometry and material properties.
grafour
the subscript means force from a to b. I was a bit confused seeing this, but I would use physical intuition. Like if the distance between two points is larger than rest length, then force should go inward. vice versa
yangbright-2001
This idealized spring equation is assuming the spring has no rest length. The force is proportional to the distance between 2 particles a and b. But I am really confused about how the direction is determined, if the rest length is assumed to be 0, does that mean all the forces are pointing inside (it is a subtraction force as the spring is extended?)
Is it the case that we want the spring to have zero length, or is it the case that the spring wants to instead just have no "resistance"? That's because I've seen springs whose "ground state" is actually pretty long and loose. And to add on to that, is there a way we can determine how long the "ground state" for a spring? AKA is there some sort of unit of measurement for it?
this is an extremely simple model. different springs have different "ground states", which would probably be based mostly on their geometry? in any case, this model breaks down eventually when you stretch out the spring too much, and you cause plastic deformation
Agree with @buggy213, I'm a little confused about why the spring wants to have zero length as opposed to zero displacement? Is this just an assumption we're making because we're considering an idealized spring? The "ground state" of a spring is usually something that is given to us in a problem, or we're finding based off of geometry and material properties.
the subscript means force from a to b. I was a bit confused seeing this, but I would use physical intuition. Like if the distance between two points is larger than rest length, then force should go inward. vice versa
This idealized spring equation is assuming the spring has no rest length. The force is proportional to the distance between 2 particles a and b. But I am really confused about how the direction is determined, if the rest length is assumed to be 0, does that mean all the forces are pointing inside (it is a subtraction force as the spring is extended?)