Question
True or false? When a spring is compressed it is transferring elastic potential energy to the surroundings
Answer
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(307 Votes)
Dinah
Veteran · Tutor for 9 years
Answer
False. When a spring is compressed, it is stored the elastic potential energy, not transferring it to the surroundings.
Explanation
The statement can be considered to be false, by following the nature of Elastic Potential Energy(EPE) and its principles.When a spring is being compressed, stored potential energy, specifically Elastic Potential Energy, indeed increases. However, rather than transferring energy to the surroundings, the spring itself is storing the potential energy internally.By applying a force to compress the spring, you're doing the "work" against the spring's elasticity towards its equilibrium state. That input of energy (work) will change not to disperse into surroundings but be converted directly into EPE. Hence the principle of conservation of energy applies, where energy is not destroyed, but changed from one form to another.If later this compression is released, meaning external forces are removed then stored energy would be released. The Spring would utilize that stored EPE, converting it into kinetic energy and motion resulting. But that happens till then and is also not really 'transfer to the surroundings', rather a sort of application onto the surroundings using the kinetic energy generated through the conversion from potential energy stored in the stressed state.