Slow-Mo Falling Slinky
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Veritasium demonstrates the beautiful and counterintuitive behavior of a falling slinky. Mike Wheatland of the University of Sydney shows his modeling of the phenomenon.
Slow motion photography courtesy of Questacon http://questacon.edu.au
Slow motion photography courtesy of Questacon http://questacon.edu.au
Jun 18, 2012 9:08 PM
Re: Slow-Mo Falling Slinky
I'm one of those people on the internet. I'm sure that the guy isn't incorrect when he explains the counter-intuitive behavior of the bottom of the slinky in terms of propagation of information. I'd just argue that there's a far less ...uh... groovy way to phrase it. The lower parts on the slinky are simply still being suspended by the parts that are immediately above it, until they aren't.
Solid metal bombs don't instantly shatter wooden shacks. Rungs of slinky don't appear to experience a loss of tension until there's an actual loss of tension.
But of course he already said all that. Guess I'm just trying to more clearly explain this to myself.
Solid metal bombs don't instantly shatter wooden shacks. Rungs of slinky don't appear to experience a loss of tension until there's an actual loss of tension.
But of course he already said all that. Guess I'm just trying to more clearly explain this to myself.
By: wadadde
Re: Slow-Mo Falling Slinky
Wheatland's explanation is correct, but it's not the only way of understanding it. I prefer your explanation.
This phenomenon happens with any object, but the compression or expansion wave propagates at the speed of sound through a solid material. It's much more dramatic with an elastic system.
This phenomenon happens with any object, but the compression or expansion wave propagates at the speed of sound through a solid material. It's much more dramatic with an elastic system.
