Question

A wound watch spring has _________ energy.
A. mechanical
B. kinetic
C. potential
D. kinetic and potential

Answer 1

Hint: A wound watch spring is a part of the mechanical watch. Mechanical watches are those which do not need any external sources like battery, circuits, or microchips. These are completely different from the watches, many of us use, which are quartz watches.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The wound watch is nothing but a mechanical watch. Unlike the quartz watches that are used on a daily basis, a mechanical watch works without any battery or a circuit.
All of us are familiar with adjusting the time on the watch by moving the crown around. Similarly, a mechanical watch has a crown that is connected to the mainspring.
This mainspring is a hardened metal strip nearly a foot long and wound around a rotating spindle called an ‘arbor’ and contained by a barrel. This is the source of energy for a mechanical watch.
Once the spring is properly wound by the arbor, the spring is stretched and gains the potential energy, which is transferred back and forth between the barrel and the escapement assembly.
Therefore, the wound watch spring has potential energy.

So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Additional Information: If you’re one of the curious kinds wondering what the escapement assembly is and how this drives the working of a watch, dive right in.
The mainsprings barrel is connected to a wheel train which contains the time-keeping hands. These are in turn connected to the escapement and balance wheel, it releases the mainspring power in small increments and is that part of the watch which makes the sound you’re so familiar with “Tick-Tock”.
Please note that we’ve skipped many parts of the actual working of the mechanical watch and tried to keep it as simple as possible.

Note: The mechanical or the wound watch works exactly like a wind-up toy, which is given a winding key on the back. The mechanism of the wound watch is also seen in other clockwork instruments like a kitchen timer, music boxes, and radios.