%0 Journal Article
%A Pretz, Jörg
%T Oscillations of a suspended slinky
%J European journal of physics
%V 42
%N 4
%@ 1361-6404
%C Bristol
%I IOP Publ.
%M FZJ-2021-00266
%P 045008
%D 2021
%X This paper discusses the oscillations of a spring (slinky) under its ownweight. A discrete model, describing the slinky byNsprings andNmasses, isintroduced and compared to a continuous treatment. One interesting result is thatthe upper part of the slinky performs a triangular oscillation whereas the bottompart performs an almost harmonic oscillation if the slinky starts with ”natural” initialconditions, where the spring is just pulled further down from its rest position undergravity and then released.It is also shown that the period of the oscillation is simply given byT=√32L/g,whereLis the length of the slinky under its own weight andgthe acceleration ofgravity independent of the other properties of the spring.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000655314300001
%R 10.1088/1361-6404/abcddf
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/889383