Zero-rest-length spring ($V=\kappa s^2/2$)

A zero-rest-length spring has quadratic potential energy in its actual length $s$, with no subtracted natural length. It is a useful idealization, not an ordinary unstretched spring of arbitrary length. For an end-to-end spring on a two-link pendulum, changing the natural length changes the quadratic bending stiffness about the straight configuration.