In addition to being a fun toy, the “Slinky” is commonly used in physics classes to qualitatively investigate a variety of wave properties: longitudinal versus transverse traveling waves, superposition of waves, wave reflection from a solid barrier or a free end, and standing waves and resonance. Many of these investigations work well when the Slinky is stretched out on the surface of a floor. However, to do a quantitative study of standing waves and resonance, suspending the stretched Slinky from the ceiling offers the advantages of less friction, easier observation of more harmonics, and improved numeric data collection, particularly if PocketLab Voyager is attached to the vibrating Slinky.
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