Dr Derek Muller
Now at some point growing up most of us have been captivated by one of these, a slinky. But recently I found out one of the most memorising things about how it moves is something I’d never seen before. How it falls.
NARRATION
So what’s so surprising ...
Lady
Oh!
NARRATION
... about a falling slinky?
Lady
Ohhhh!
Lady
It wasn’t what I expected.
NARRATION
Well to help explain is physicist Rod Cross.
Assoc Professor Rod Cross
And the idea is that I hold the top end of the slinky like this, and then let the bottom end dangle.
Dr Derek Muller
So the slinky’s dangling freely.
Assoc Professor Rod Cross
And then I’m going to drop the slinky. But I want you to predict what’s going to happen. Will the top end fall first? Will the bottom end fall first? Or both ends fall together? Or will the two ends approach each other in the middle?
Dr Derek Muller
That is a tough question. When I let go what does the bottom bit?
Boy
Shoot up.
Man
It’s going to fall. It’s gravity.
Dr Derek Muller
It’s actually going to fall.
Lady
Bottom goes up, top goes down.
Girl
It might come up together.
Man
You’re going see the top come down to the middle and the bottom come up to the top.
Girl
Come to meet it and then drop.
Man
The top will accelerate faster than the bottom.
Boy
I reckon that bottom will stay there, this will come down to there and then they’ll both fall.
Dr Derek Muller
Alright well why don’t we give it a shot here. I want you to ...
Lady
Okay.
Dr Derek Muller
... to try to watch the whole slinky as it falls to see what it’s doing. Let’s count it down ready, three, two, one.
NARRATION
The problem is it’s a bit hard to tell with the naked eye just what’s happening.
Man
No idea.
Lady
I think it came up.
Dr Derek Muller
The bottom came up?
Man
I couldn’t be sure.
Lady
It’s all too fast.
Dr Derek Muller
Yeah.
NARRATION
To really appreciate the physics involved you need to see it in slow motion.
Man
Oh man.
Lady
Gosh that’s great.
Lady
That’s weird.
Girl
That’s unbelievable.
Lady
It does, it does stay there.
Lady
It just stays there like in mid air.
Man
It’s suspended.
Lady
What?
Man
Yeah it doesn’t move at all.
Lady
How does that work?
Girl
How does that work?
Dr Derek Muller
How do you explain that?
Assoc Professor Rod Cross
Well you’ve got to look at what’s happening at the bottom end. Gravity’s pulling the bottom end down, tensions pulling the bottom end up, the two forces are equal and opposite so the bottom end remains at rest. Then I let go at the top end the tension in the spring changes, but it propagates down the spring coil by coil until it reaches the bottom end. And that takes about a quarter of a second. And then the bottom end falls.
Dr Derek Muller
So the tension doesn’t actually change at the bottom end until the rest of the slinky has collapsed?
Assoc Professor Rod Cross
Correct.
NARRATION
The same principal applies to sporting equipment like tennis rackets or golf clubs. When contact is made with the ball a wave travels up the shaft so the golfer’s hands don’t feel the hit until after the ball is already on its way to the hole.
Dr Derek Muller
Now as a final extension on this experiment we’ve tied a tennis ball to the base of the slinky. We’re going to drop it and see what happens this time.
NARRATION
Incredibly the same thing happens. That’s because the slinky has simply stretched further and reached a new equilibrium where the gravitational force down equals the tension force up.
Dr Derek Muller
It didn’t make a difference.
Assoc Professor Rod Cross
It is counter intuitive but that’s what makes physics so interesting, that’s why I keep doing experiments like this.