July 6th, 2012

The physics of a falling Slinky

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Professor Ted Bunn (no relation), who still gets email about a Black Holes FAQ he wrote over fifteen years ago, recently blogged about what happens when you suspend a Slinky vertically, then let go. No wait, come back.

In Part the First, he provides an alternate (but equivalent) explanation for the phenomenon. Allen Downey on his wonderfully-titled blog Probably Overthinking It started in with the equations, which inspired Ted to write Part the Second, which contains with lots of math, but there are also charts.

Okay, fine, I don’t blame you for leaving.

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Non-Computer

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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