Here's the breakdown:

* Hooke's Law: This law describes the behavior of elastic materials like springs. It states that the force required to stretch or compress a spring is directly proportional to the amount of stretch or compression.

* Formula: F = -kx, where:

* F is the force applied.

* k is the spring constant (a measure of the spring's stiffness).

* x is the displacement from the equilibrium position (how much the spring is stretched or compressed).

Therefore, the force is directly proportional to the displacement (x).