The correct answer is
A) elastic potential energy
In fact, a spring is a store of elastic potential energy, Its elastic potential energy is given by the following equation:
[tex]U= \frac{1}{2} k x^2[/tex]
where
k is the spring constant
x is the elongation/compression of the spring with respect to its equilibrium position.
From the formula, we see that the larger the compression (or elongation) of the spring, the greater is the elastic potential energy stored by it.
