A board rests on two springs, keeping the springs at equilibrium. Each spring has a spring constant of 10,000 N/m. How far will each spring compress when a 50kg person sits on the board?

Any idea how to do this?

1 answer

depends on where on the board the person sits

if they sit at the center, then the springs compress equally
... the person's weight is 50 g ... 490 N
... so, 245 N on each spring

245 N / (10k N/m) = ? m