Question

The stiffness of a spring is

• A. Load per coil of the spring
• B. Load required to produce unit deflection
• C. Load required to compress the spring up to shearing proportional limit.
• D. The load required for breaking the spring.

Answer 1

The correct option is B Load required to produce unit deflection

The stiffness (K) of a body is a measure of the resistance offered by an elastic body to deformation. Generally, for spring the spring stiffness is the force required to cause unit deformation.

$K=\frac{F}{\gamma }$

where, Deflection $\left(\gamma \right)=1$

$Stiffness\left(K\right)=Force$