ocr: How far can you stretch a spring? Springs only stay springy if the forces that push or pull on them do not become too great. If a spring is over- stretched, it won't spring back to its original position and may even break. To: find out when a spring becomes overstretched, you can hang and then remove successively larger weights from it, checking each time whether the spring contracts back to its original length. Once a spring has been over- stretched, however, it cannot be safely used again. This is why scientists need to know how the material that the spring is made of behaves when 1t is stre ...