Skip to main content
Physics

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

2
  • $\begingroup$ I like the last bit of your argument with the short section of a spring... $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ "you can't tell which way the spring distorts (stretch or compress) when you move that handle" - For any plausible real-world (coil) spring I tend to disagree. Moving the handle in the direction that compresses the spring will eventually have a hard-stop where the spring reaches maximum compression. Moving the handle in the other direction will encounter no such thing, at least not while the spring remains a spring. It would be impossible to tell if the handle's range of motion is restricted to something that works equally well in both directions, but that design aspect wasn't stipulated. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 15:04