Hooke's law states that the deformation of an elastic object is proportional to the applied force. For relatively small deformations, the amount of displacement is directly proportional to the deforming force. The concept is that the amount of force applied to a spring or elastic object is proportional to the amount of deformation. The greater the force applied, the more the object deforms through stretching or compression. Hooke's law is represented by the formula F=kx, where F is the applied force, k is the force constant, and x is the deformation.