Why do Slinky bottoms stay still?

Held from midair, the Slinky stretches out, quickly reaching a condition known as “equilibrium.” in which the downward force of gravity is balanced by the upward tension of the coils above it. When the top is released, the bottom stays suspended. The top of the Slinky collapses, so that the coils slam into each other.

Why does the top of a Slinky fall first?

Students are asked to predict what happens when the slinky is released. Does the top fall first? As they meet the collapsed slinky then moves towards the ground. This happens because the bottom end has balanced forces acting upon it (gravity pulling it down and tension in the spring pulling it up).

What forces act on a Slinky?

Assuming a vacuum, the pertinent forces acting on this Slinky as a whole are the force of gravity, a tension force from the object holding the top of the Slinky, and spring tension within the Slinky. This collapse and release of tension demonstrates a longitudinal wave travelling downward through the Slinky.

Why does bottom of slinky not fall?

The bottom of the slinky is held up against gravity by the stretch in the slinky above it. Before the top was released, the stretch and gravity were in balance, so the bottom wasn’t moving. After the top is released, the bottom is still stretched, so the forces on the bottom end are still balanced, so it doesn’t move.

Why the coils are further apart at the top of the slinky spring than at the bottom?

Because the upper coils are supporting the entire mass of the slinky, while the bottom-most coils are only supporting their own mass.

Why does bottom of Slinky not fall?

Why does a Slinky fall down the stairs?

Because of this inertia, if it were placed at the top of the stairs it would stay at rest without moving at all. But once it is started down the stairs and gravity affects it, the potential energy is converted to the energy of motion or kinetic energy and the Slinky gracefully tumbles coil by coil down the stairs.

Can Slinky walk floor?

This process is possible because of gravity and the Slinky’s own momentum. In this way a Slinky can walk down other surfaces, too, such as an inclined plane, which is a type of sloping surface that you will use in this activity.

Why doesn’t the bottom of the slinky move when pulled up?

You are absolutely correct that the bottom of the slinky does not move because the tension of the rest of the slinky pulling up balances the force due to gravity pulling down until the moment that the slinky is fully compressed and the whole thing falls with the acceleration due to gravity.

How does a slinky levitate when dropped?

Conclusion When a Slinky is dropped, the bottom of the Slinky remains motionless as the top collapses towards it, making it appear to the observer as though the Slinky is levitating. By considering the Slinky as a tightly wound, pretensioned spring, the static equilibrium of a hanging Slinky was solved for using Hooke’s law (Equation 1).

What does it mean when a slinky falls in slow motion?

A Slinky falling in slow motion doesn’t move the way you’d expect; the top of the Slinky falls normally, while the bottom seems to float in midair. The physics of that weird Slinky movement can also represent how we use signals to interact with the world around us.

What is a Slinky spring?

“A Slinky is a simple spring, with the unique attribute that the spring in its natural resting state has all the coils touching one another,” Unruh said. “It’s what’s called a pretensioned spring,” Kolkowitz added. “If you just leave it sitting on a desk on its side it’ll actually be fully compressed.”