That is, the pull of the spring is not zero when the spring is at its minimum length – the pull is balanced by the repulsive normal force between the coils that are in contact. But this is not such a ...That is, the pull of the spring is not zero when the spring is at its minimum length – the pull is balanced by the repulsive normal force between the coils that are in contact. But this is not such a spring, so to determine the potential energy stored in the spring, we must do a new calculation of the work done on it, using the function \(F(x)\) that we will determine experimentally.
