Electronic Analogue To A Slinky

A simple model would be a parallel resonant circuit (RLC). L and C would dictate the oscillation frequency and R the damping factor.

But, if you are talking about a slinky walking down a flight of stairs, forget about simple models.

In what sense?

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ould

Ah HA! Finally a situation where mechanics is more sophisticated than electronics!

We have a Slinky that can walk down steps and you guys don't have anything to compare..

Na na Na na NA NA.

It probably wouldn't be too difficult to make an electronic "slinky" that could "walk" down a voltage.

It would make a really obnoxious car alarm.

Is it too late to cancel this post?

Bret Cahill

I think a slinky spring, being basically a coil, is mostly inductance :^)

If you're doing wave experiments with it however, it's a physical delay line,

one way to make an electrical delay line is lots of inductors in series and capacitors to ground.

--+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-ww-+-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | === === === === === === === === === === === === === | | | | | | | | | | | | | --+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+--

Bye. Jasen

No...Placing a number of capacitors and inductors in series simply lumps them as one capacitor and one inductor. The inductance adds: L1 + L2 + L3.... and the reciprical of the capacitace adds: 1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3....etc. The result is a single capacitance, a single inductance and a single resonant frequency. Apparently you are looking for a coupled group of resonators each separate from yet dependent on the other. There are circuits like this. Look up chaotic oscillators.

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simply lumps

tc.

its

As long as no new auto alarms come out of this . . .

Bret Cahill

No: That would be more like a transmission line representation !

--
Baron:

Ah HA! Finally a situation where mechanics is more sophisticated than electronics!

The analogies between the two are mostly simple ones. I little direct experience, but I'll guess that finite element analysis would do a great job of modeling a slinky doing slinky-like tricks. Bad news is that those software packages are REALLY expensive (might be some low cost versions ... again, not my field). Ansys and Comsol are two FEA tools that I have played with (demos only). Neat stuff!

It is now. ;-)

So, write an equation for the motion of a slinky walking down the stairs, and we'll simulate it. ;-)

Cheers! Rich

But, that's not electronics, that's software. ;-)

Cheers! Rich

That's why I came here. To see if it was worth screwing around with the math. All I have is a qualitative understanding:

rolling down a hill or down steps for that matter.

The torque from gravity in the y direction acting to accelerate one end about the center of mass adds enough angular momentum to keep it going.

The difference is at the end of each "step" the angular momentum needs to go somewhere and it goes to the flip. After each flip the angular momentum goes back to rolling the coil.

Both the ball and spring both have translational as well as angular momentum.

know all the potential energy for each step ends up as heat as the coils slap together.

It might not be that ugly a problem.

Bret Cahill

I suppose it depends on what he means by "approximate". You can make a simple stair case with a counter driving voltage dividers. Stuff the outputs through diodes into an RC so that the steps take some time, start out high and go to low. Heck, you can even make the "electronic slinky" go *UP* the steps!

Ed

On Sat, 04 Nov 2006 05:53:55 -0800, Bret Cahill wrote: ...

Are Slinkys really made of recycled piston rings? ;-)

Cheers! Rich

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...

simply lumps

Most people ignore car alarms anyway. Did you ever see "South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut"? A guy jumps out of a window and lands on some car, which sets off the alarm. The car owner comes out, looks at the corpse on top of his car, scowls, turns the alarm off, and goes back to whatever he was doing before the alarm.

Cheers! Rich

Lightening or anything sets them off so no one notices.

One guy in San Diego made millions off of auto alarms and financed the recall of Grey Davis. When he realized he opened the door for Arnold he pulled his funding but by then it was too late.

Unintended consequences seem to be the rule in crime and politics.

Bret Cahill

"The best laid plans o mice and men . . ."

-- Burns