How is energy stored in a compressed spring?

Answer 1

The matter in a spring is in a form that wants to bend back into shape when bent. This is called elasticity. When you compress the spring, it wants to spread itself out again, but because you won't let it, it has that energy stored inside of it, waiting to be used. This kind of energy is called potentail energy. Potential energy can exist for two main reasons...

if something is above the ground and something is stopping it from falling, it will have potential enrgy. The energy it had to fall is waiting to be used as movement or kinetic energy. This is gravitational potential energy. The spring had potential energy of postion, so the position it was in had potential energy. When you release he spring, it will let out the enrg as movement. The farther you compress the spring, the more energy it will have.