A slinky is not a spring, go replace all your springs in your car with slinkys and tell me how brilliant you are, you cretanic dingbat troglobite.





maybe you'll understand better if it is phrased "constant tension throughout" so if you apply a force on one side it will be resisted on the other side.

This is not even remotely true on a slinky, hold a slinky in both hands - like in a upside down u shape -
the fact you can even do this at all makes it different than a spring
Show me a spring you can bend into any shape you want and let go, and if it doesn't immediately spring back into its original shape, its not a true spring
do what you want in one hand (within reason) and the forces are not continuously transferred through to the other half, just to the next coil

Its similar looking to a spring - but not an actual spring

Describing it as a spring is for idiots, just like using the word Gravity to explain things is for teachers thinking why bother explaining something - this moron aint gunna get it anyway

This post was edited by card_sultan on Mar 24 2017 10:53am

Smarter people than you beg to differ: https://arxiv.org/abs/1208.4629

just got off the phone with Merriam Webster, they were ashamed to admit that their definition for a spring had been wrong all along and will be updating it to whatever happens to fit Card Sultan's argument from now on.

He's wrong right of the bat - a slinky is not a tension spring - tension springs have a constant tension thoughout - slinkys do not

Show me a tension spring you can bend into any shape you want and not have it spring back to the original shape?

I know you can't.

Oh i see the issue - notice where it says its a "Nasa ad" - hmm wonder why they have a motive to feed you wrong information and propaganda - oh brother

This post was edited by card_sultan on Mar 24 2017 11:09am

why specifically does a slinky not have tension throughout it?

Actually there definition of spring is correct - your interpretation of it shows clear signs of misunderstanding

This is why you're dumb -

I say Constant tension

Definition says Constant tension

You just hear "tension"

This post was edited by card_sultan on Mar 24 2017 11:15am

ok, why does a slinky not have constant tension throughout it at all times?

do you mean this in an absolute sense, like there is literally zero tension in it at a point in time, or simply that the tension is so weak its effect isn't noticeable?

because only one of those is correct.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Mar 24 2017 11:21am

Constant tension means it tension is transferred from one end to the other

The tension in a slinky is transferred to the next helical coil , and not throughout the entire object

So it's similar to a spring, but not actually a spring. It's actually some brilliant science mislabeled as a toy.

This post was edited by card_sultan on Mar 24 2017 11:37am

its seems like you're only making a distinction of the base material, a spring out of a more ductile metal would hold more tension, but i don't see the distinction in the shape.

are you essentially saying to be a spring the base material must be rigid enough that the structure does not compact to a uniform shape, in other words that the "spring" must have a defined shape with space between helical coils that offers resistance when compressed?

because that lack of rigidity in the material, and extreme difference between the vertical and horizontal thickness, is the reason this spring acts differently than other springs. but has nothing to do with whether or not it is a spring.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Mar 24 2017 11:44am