In this series of slow motion clips, you can see that if you hold a Slinky by one end and drop it, the bottom end doesn't actually move until the top end catches up with it. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiyMuHuCFo4&hd=1]Awesome HD Slinky Slow-Mo - YouTube[/ame] Holy levitating Slinky!
And I thought I wasted inordinate amounts of time participating in various experiments in velocity, inertia, compression, balistics, arc, spin rate and pointless score keeping. golf
For some reason I just don't see how the bottom would not move downward, once the entire thing was released, but then I'm not a PhD. I actually have one of those and am going to try it. Not that I don't believe him or anything. Jim
Slinky's were brought to earth by aliens.... Actually, accidently left by alien kids..... They never pick up after themselves either. We have yet to discover the full attributes of the slinky. Some scientists believe they were portable worm holes. Scientists someday hope to marry the Escher Ascending / Descending stair with the slinky in hopes of creating the first perpetual motion machine that will provide us with unlimited energy... Government funding for slinky research continues to this day.
I think the spring has something to do with it... I think there is enough "pull" upward under tension, that it balances it out...
Who would have thought the slinky was the missing link to fight gravity. lol This is just like the show "The Big Bang theory" but no good jokes.