Slinky Drop Extended
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Uploaded by 1veritasium on Sep 21, 2011
The answer to the question - what happens to a tennis ball tied to the bottom of a slinky after the top of the slinky is let go?
For a great explanation, check out Rhett Allain's analysis here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/modeling-a-falling-slinky/
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yey i got it right
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It's Julius Sumner Miller!
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@teequlah Another d-bag getting pwned by the uploader. Classic YouTube flame wars. Like the good ol' days. Next time, try not to challenge someone that's uploading a physics video..
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@1veritasium It does appear that the tennis ball is moving down very slowly; is it just the tennis ball, or is it the tennis ball + slinky system that is falling at this slow rate prior to the removal of the opposing force?
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@javid62663 read the top comments
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ps, the tennis ball DID move when you dropped the slinky, just very slowly... did you guys even look at the footage before presenting it? lol
teequlah 2 months ago
@teequlah since this point comes up often, I'll address it. If no net forces act on an object, it moves with constant velocity. So yes, it is possible the tennis ball is moving down very slowly but this would be due to a slight downward velocity before the slinky was released. The key is that it does not accelerate down until the slinky collapses. I am thinking about repeating this to show that the tennis ball can move up as the slinky is falling down.
1veritasium 2 months ago 47
Keep in mind that a slinky collapsed in less than a quarter of a second, even if the slink wasn't there: given the same amount of time the tennis ball would still have hardly moved.
Kassidar 3 months ago
@Kassidar Depends what you mean by hardly moved. Objects on Earth fall a distance = 0.5*g*t^2 so in 0.26 s then tennis ball would otherwise have fallen 33cm
1veritasium 3 months ago 35
@1veritasium So I have a question for you.. im no physicist BUT I have a pretty good question. Would the force of the ball hitting the ground be the same as if it were dropped from where the top of the slinky was held? Obviously the slinky picks up speed and creates a force that pushes the ball down. If that makes sense.
modrnlol 3 months ago
@modrnlol I think the ball might actually be worse off - the momentum of the falling slinky is more than the momentum the top of the ball would have had so I think it's actually pushed in with more force.
1veritasium 3 months ago