CAPE Physics Unit 1 · 2016 · Paper 2 · Question 3(a)(ii)

After a lesson on Hooke's law, a student is asked to measure the mass of a rock sample using a steel spring, standard masses and a metre rule. The student measured the unstretched length of the spring and then set up the arrangement shown in Figure 5.

Describe how this arrangement could be used to determine the spring constant and hence, the mass of the rock sample.

This question uses a figure or table from the paper — you'll see it when you practise.