Basically What weighs more? an elastic band being stretched or an elastic band not being streched. I have been promised that the answer is not that they weigh the same, and there is a scientific answer to this question. please help had me stuck for days...
2007-11-24 19:59:50 · 4 answers · asked by wozza766 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Lorenzo has the right answer. A molecule weighs less than its constituent atoms, because some of the mass is stored as atomic bonding energy. If you stretch a rubber band, you are changing some of those bonds making them weaker and increasing the mass.
If you stretched the band so it stored 9 Joule of energy, it would be approx 1*10^-16 Kilograms heavier. This might not seem much but is about the same weight as 10 billion hydrogen atoms !!!
2007-11-24 21:45:43 · answer #1 · answered by mis42n 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is kind of a silly question, but I think the answer is that it weighs more when stretched. When you stretch a rubber band, the temperature slightly increases. An increased temperature slightly increases the weight at the quantum level, but this would be pretty much unmeasurable.
2007-11-24 20:11:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A stretched rubber band has potential energy imparted to it. That energy can be equivalent to a given mass (E=mc2). So it would technically weigh more than an un-stretched rubber band.
2007-11-24 20:07:39 · answer #3 · answered by Lorenzo Steed 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well do you inclde the instruments that stretch the second elastic band!
2007-11-24 20:05:51 · answer #4 · answered by alex 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋