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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Which weighs more?
« on: 29/05/2007 12:35:48 »
I think they have to weigh the same...there is no mass added or subtracted through compression - there is force added though, so if you have the spring on a set of bathroom scales, say, and push down, you would be measuring the additional downward force used by your hand to compress the spring as well as the weight of the spring itself, which is perhaps why it might look as though the spring weighs more. So, you'd be adding potential energy but no mass.