The student used the spring, a set of weights and a ruler to investigate how the extension of the spring depended on the weight hanging from the spring.
Figure 2 shows that the ruler is in a tilted position and not upright as it should be.
How would leaving the ruler tilted affect the weight and extension data to be recorded by
the student?
Same greater or smaller?

Visualize the problem and identify special cases first examine the problem by drawing a picture and visualizing the motion. apply newton's 2nd law, ∑f⃗ =ma⃗ , to each body in your mind. don't worry about which quantities are given. think about the forces on each body: how are these consistent with the direction of the acceleration for that body? can you think of any special cases that you can solve quickly now and use to test your understanding later? one special case in this problem is if m2=0, in which case block 1 would simply fall freely under the acceleration of gravity: a⃗ 1=−gj^.