I have an anodizing rack that has hundreds of prongs. These prongs are made of titanium and need to be squeezed together in order to place the parts on the rack. I am wondering how I would calculate the force needed to make the prongs touch so that parts can be added?
I have seen some people saying to use F=kx treating the prongs as a spring, would this be the best way? Any help is appreciated.
Using Hooke's law $${\bf F}=-k{\bf x}$$ will not work.
Note that the equation above relates the extension of a spring or spring-like material, $\bf x$ to the restoring force, $\bf F$ (and are both opposite in direction, along the same line). It says nothing about a (perpendicular) force that causes the deflection of the tip of a substance (even if that substance can be deflected and move back to its initial position, similar to a "spring").
That is, Hooke's explicitly states the applied force is always colinear with the displacement $\bf x$ and therefore not at right angles to it, which appears to be what you are suggesting.
