Figure 6 shows part of the inside of a pen - Edexcel - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 4 - 2023 - Paper 2

To find the force needed to compress the spring, we can use Hooke's Law, which states that the force exerted by a spring is directly proportional to the displacement, given by the formula:

$F = k imes x$

where:

• $F$ is the force in Newtons (N),
• $k$ is the spring constant (260 N/m),
• $x$ is the displacement (6.2 mm), which needs to be converted to meters:

$x = 6.2 ext{ mm} = 0.0062 ext{ m}$

Now, substituting the values into the formula:

$F = 260 ext{ N/m} imes 0.0062 ext{ m}$

Calculating this gives:

$F = 1.612 ext{ N}$

Rounding to two significant figures, the final answer is:

1.6 N