Slinky Drop

Key Takeaways

[Applause] Today I'm at the University of Sydney talking to Rod Cross who's uh done physics for many many decades. Uh you are perfectly correct. I was a student here in 1960. Wow. So he certainly knows a lot about physics. And today we're doing an experiment involving a slinky. Can you tell me about it? Uh well I have here a slinky in my hand. I'm going to hold the slinky by the top end. Let the bottom end go so the slinky stretches and it dangles freely. And I'm going to ask the question, what happens when I let go at the top end? Will the bottom end fall first? Will the top end fall first? Will both ends fall together? Or will the center of the slinky stay at rest and the top end and the bottom end approach each other and they collapse in the middle? Make your prediction and then I'll drop it. Ready, set, go. Did you see it?