Question

Explain the physical meaning of the spring constant in terms of "stiffness" or "softness" of a spring

Answer 1

Spring constant is the measure of the stiffness of the spring.

Higher the stiffness, higher is the spring constant, k.

Higher the softness, lower is the spring constant.

This can be understood using Hooke's law.

According to Hooke's law, the force (F) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance x scales linearly with respect to that distance.

F = - k x

where k is the spring constant. More stiffness means, the spring constant is higher and you will need more force to stretch or compress the spring.

If the spring is soft, it means the spring constant k is small and you will require less force to stretch or compress the spring.