The Kid Should See This

The Slinky Machine: A hand-cranked, wooden Slinky escalator

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What if you had a never-ending stairway for a Slinky to “walk” down? How long do you think it might continue to descend? Matthias Wandel of Woodgears.ca decided to find out. This is The Slinky Machine, a specially-constructed, wooden Slinky escalator or treadmill.

Matthias-Wandel-woodgearsdotca-slinky-machine

The challenges that come with making a Slinky Machine include keeping the Slinky from falling off the steps left or right, keeping its strides consistent, and getting the steps to move at just the right speed so that the slinky will continue to descend. Wandel’s solutions: A backboard, a slight angle on each step and on the machine itself, a hand crank, and lots of measuring, testing, and practice.

How many steps can the slinky go? Watch:

Related DIY: Slinking Science on an inclined plane.

In the archives, more Slinky experiments and more from Woodgears.ca, including a Binary Marble Adding Machine and Paul Grundbacher’s marble machines.

h/t Boing Boing.

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