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Unread 04-09-2006, 12:18
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Re: A way to measure force...

It's still energy as long as you know physically how far the scale's deflected as well. You'd be measuring the maximum potential energy stored in the spring. PE=0.5*k*x^2. You don't know k, but F=k*x so PE=0.5*f*x. Only problem is if ball bounces off in random directions, imparting an inconsistent amount of energy to the system.

You could also come up with a comparison is you don't know the deflection, using an arbitrary constant/guess for k and saying PE=0.5*F^2/k.
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