Archived comment by chrism:
hm... you would have to be able to speed up and slow down the escalator to make it work, you probably wouldn't just luck into a slinky that happened to go down stairs at the same speed that the elevator moves. if you could though, and if getting the slinky to go down the stairs for that long weren't so much of a pain, i bet it would work.

Archived comment by miss liss:
OK - that comment was in reference to the last comments on the first page. It's definitely Monday! I forgot there was a whole other page of comments to go. I'll just be quiet now...

Archived comment by miss liss:
Monk - be gentle with the newbies! *grin*

Archived comment by Joe Napalm:

Slinkies themselves resulted from a failed experiment.

Tis true.

-Jn-
Efreeti Sophist

Archived comment by ScaredyKat:
The Slinky-Escalator experiment depends on the "step-length" of your slinky too, or how far out it will take the next step. This is strongly related to the diameter of the slinky coil and the, um, resilience? of the material (i.e. plastic v. steel). "Step-height" shouldn't be a big problem as long as the slinky is a little longer than the escalator rise.

Most building codes require stairs to have a pretty long tread. That's probably why our slinkys didn't work. Really old houses' stairs tend to work.

Yeah, what Serena & Mike said...any ME out there looking for a term project?

Archived comment by Mitch Hedberg:
An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see an "Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order" sign, just "Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience."

Archived comment by Serena:
I get what you mean about the kinetic energy, hypoxic, but I'm still not convinced it would actually add to the slinky's energy or if it would just cause problems for the slinky. Slinkys are tricky little devils (as you said, hard to idealize). Just getting them to run right on a regular set of stairs can sometimes be a hassle, no telling what will happen once you put the stairs into motion. But, it would be fun to experiment.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
I still think that if you have a relatively jiggly escalator the slinky will get enough energy and motion to keep falling.

Archived comment by Mike:
Yeah, what hypoxic said about the perpetual motion thing: the-- uh-- whatever it is that makes escalators run would be dumping new energy into the system so we would bypass that problem. I think the slinky would have to be started in the middle of the escalator where the steps have already reached their maximum size to give the slinky a fighting chance. You would also need a pretty long and relatively private escalator so you could fine tune the slinky's initial drop and rate of descent without having people ride through and screw things up.

Oh crap. This is starting to sound like a viable experiment now. There's a servicable escalator a few blocks from here, but I don't have a slinky. :^(

I'm still not sure it would work, though. Something about momentum... it just doesn't seem right.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
Ermm you guys aren't thinking about this right. The jiggling is imparting kinetic energy to this system. This energy could be more then the energy lost to friction. As long as the slinky's parts have unequal momentum (due to the force applied to changing masses) the slinky should continue down the escalator.

I suppose if you want we could work it out. But the math is going to be horrendous and I don't think you can idealize a slinky.

Archived comment by Saint:
I would, if the nearest escalator wasn't a four-hour drive from here. That's just a little too much work for me.

Archived comment by Serena:
Somehow I don't think it matters how jiggly the escalator might be, friction would still cause the slinky to stop eventually. Plus, the jigglyness of escalator might even work as a type of friction against the slinky, slowing it's progress even more quickly. Although, I think it would depend on the type of jiggling and the direction of the jiggling. (For instance, side to side jiggling would probably slow the slinky down faster.)

Also...the whole escalator/slinky thing...I'm not sure it would work right anyway. When you push a slinky down a set of stairs there is a constant: the same amount of space between the stairs. When you push the slinky down an escalator the amount of space between the steps is always changing depending on how long it takes the slinky to make the leap to the next step (because of friction the slinky is slowing down but the escalator is going at a constant speed.)

I think the only way to find out for sure would be to experiment. Any takers?

Archived comment by jack daniels:
how would any jiggling (except for maybe earthquake force jiggling) make a slinky work? i'm not too familiar with the physics of a slinky.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
comon! I delivered the straight line now you got to jump on it :P

Archived comment by ParU:
Restrains himself from commenting on hypoxic's 'sufficiently jiggling' comment.

Archived comment by jack daniels:
i can't get them to work either. something must be wrong with me.

Archived comment by Lisa 2:
That's why I've always been afraid of down escalators...and I can't get slinky's to work on regular stairs, I've never tried it on an escalator

Archived comment by Sabrina:
I won't doubt a conversation like that. I've heard my share of wack thoughts ... from my schitzophrenic aunt.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
well actually no its not a perpetual motion machine. See the escalator is constanly introducing energy into the system. And the slinky might not stop if the escalator is sufficiently jiggly enough. Though paul's probably right in most cases.

Archived comment by Paul:
By the way, if you put a slinky on an up escalator it will just stop moving after about 15 steps or so- friction slows it down just like everything else. Otherwise you'd have a perpetual motion machine...

Archived comment by LB:
"no, I think it's safe to say a slinky can't carry anything."
Well, it would depend on your method of attaching the transported object. If you had a large number of very thin rubber bands you could connect the object to every incremental loop of the slinky

. = one point on one loop of the slinky
| = rubber band

. . . . .
\ \ | / /
object
/ / | \ \
. . . . .
(sorry, you may have to copy/paste/find-a-fixed-width-font with this one... (but you get the idea))

this *might* maintain enough of the flexibility of the slinky for it to still travel and provide enough pull on the object to maintain it's position "at the center" of the slinky.

no doubt, people will help refine my design...
(Patent for this ought to be registered under inpassing.org though)

Archived comment by Saint:
Since the slinky's ability to move depends on the flexibility of it, especially in the center--no, I think it's safe to say a slinky can't carry anything. Unless, apparently, it's a slinky of unusual size, which is capable of carrying a Matt-sized object.

Archived comment by jack daniels:
i wonder if it's too late for me to de-lurk? oh well, whats done is done.

i got kicked out of the computer room in the library at school today when i was reading this quote. nazi librarians.

back to that conversation about the people-movers, i think i remember reading a few asimov books, did he write the norby (sp? dont remember) series? i think there might have been something like those in that series. maybe i'm mistaken thought.

and i was wondering, if there is something in the middle of a slinky like, say, a can of soda, and the slinky had enough momentum, do you think that the slinky would 'carry' the soda with itself down the stairs, shaking the soda up in the process?

Archived comment by panzer:
hillary barry, http://simplegifts.blogspot.com/

upn y'bpui?

Archived comment by Trent:
Doh!

Archived comment by LB:
Not to 50!!!

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
"Life is pain. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

Archived comment by Trent:
Well, sometimes you don't have decent fire swamps when you need them. Guess that goes to show that
life isn't fair, princess...& the only ones who believe differently are selling something.

Or along those lines. Unfortunately I don't have my book on hand.

Archived comment by Matt:
Help! Holy crap! Where's a decent Fire Swamp when you need one?!

Archived comment by Jon:
PB point to Matt.
True love is the greatest thing in the world. Except
for a nice MLT... mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich where the
mutton is nice and lean, and the tomato is ripe....they're so
perky. I love that.

Archived comment by marinerd:
I like playing with other people's slinkys, since of course I don't have one. I just can't keep my hands off them.

/insert joke here, You Know Who/

Archived comment by Inuki:
*ridiculously large Slinky coils around Matt and pulls him off*

Archived comment by Matt:
Slinkies of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.

Archived comment by Taragirl:
My slinky unavoidable ends up all broken and twisted and I have to throw it away and get a new one...Maybe a bigger size would be better...

Archived comment by Lee:
Monk - What if I said that my slinky's of an unusual size, and somewhat inflexible?

;)

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
I'm just making sure everyone has their standard-issue IP frootbat. Because it means so much to me for us all to have the same imaginary pet. I'm fun.

Archived comment by Gil Bauer (m):
KtG -- thanks, but after 2 years of lurking, I delurked and got my froot bat a few months ago. He is doing fine. Initially, I gave him to myself (in my first post, to show I understood the rules) -- but was told I couldn't do that.

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
Hey! I got 100 and I didn't even try for it! This must be my lucky day.

Archived comment by Monk:
Come on people....you aren't even trying!

I quickly reached down, yanked it free, and walked off.

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
Here's your frootbat, Bauer!
Glad you weren't arrested for improper use of rubbers in a public place. *giggle*

Archived comment by Gil Bauer (m):
In 1980, when there was still a Wall, I spent a rainy day in East Berlin. Stepping off an escalator, I felt a tug on my foot and noticed that my galosh (no way I'm going to use the word "rubber" here), was stuck between the steps. In a fraction of a second, I imagined the Volkspolizei (there were many, in green "stormtrooper" coats, in evidence) leading me away at gunpoint for destruction of property. I quickly reached down, yanked it free, and walked off.

Archived comment by Monk:
His slinky is just too small to be used...

That is just too easy...

Archived comment by Lee (m):
ParU - thanks. I'll call him Iggy.

Kris... now *I* have love in an elevator stuck in my head... thanks. :) And about slinkys (slinkies? What's the plural of slinky?)... I only ever had one. I still have it actually, and it falls in the category of "too small to be of any use."

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
I now have Love in an Elevator stuck in my head. Thanks, whoever. It's only 10am.

On escalators and slinkies: I don't think it would work unless you could find either a really big slinky or a really small escalator. Otherwise the stairs would be too large and the slinky would just sit on the second stair harmlessly until it met with the metal-edged mouth of certain doom.
Maybe I just want a gigantic slinky. I always did have a fondness for those things.

Welcome lurkers! Have some frootbats. I feel like I should just open a cage of these things, what with all the lurkers "coming out of the woodwork" (thanks Lee.) Anyway, name them, love them, KEEP POSTING, avoid the trolls, and have fun. And pick on PapaU, he loves the attention. *grin*

Archived comment by ParU:
Welcome Lee - here's your frootbat!

Archived comment by Lee (m):
Monk: Yeah, well... we sung them. I only learned the bits that amused me. And... it wasn't that great a camp.

Archived comment by Monk:
You learned songs at camp??? How pedestrian!

At the camp I went to, we learned such wonderful things as *edited for content*

Of course, some of those are illegal in some states, but man I loved camp!

Archived comment by Lee (m):
I've been lurking here for quite a long time, and since this seems to be a thread which draws lurkers out of the woodwork to post, I thought it might be an opportunity to shed my personal woodwork and share some of my thoughts on elevators, escalators, and the apparati by which on descends to H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. So here goes:

Elevators and elevator etiquette. I largely agree with all the elevator etiquette that's been posted, with one proviso - that it be recognized that said etiquette is situational. For example, I work in a Medical Center, and we have very fast elevators (don't want that priority patient stuck on an elevator, y'know) - so it is generally accepted etiquette here to ALWAYS hold the elevator for someone calling for it. They may be doctors in a hurry to get somewhere, or patients. Unfortunately, it is all too often that they are neither, and become the topic of many a -under-the-breath-mutter once they get off. The other thing about having really fast elevators is that, sometimes, you MUST reach in and prevent the doors from closing in order to get on. Here, you can press a button for the elevator, wait for it to come, and still miss it. When those doors open, it's not unusual to see folks trotting across the lobby to catch it before it immediately closes.

To the elevator and escalator etiquette I'd also like to propose the following addition: that people not stand in front of it, or try to rush on before everyone is off. Sometimes, I want to get off the elevator, and find someone either standing RIGHT in front of the doors, or rushing to get on. I'm like a salmon swimming upstream, only for a much less enjoyable goal.

And finally, whenever I think of heaven and hell, I inevitably think about this song I learned at camp when I was a child about the ways in which you can't get to heaven. Apparently, you can't get to heaven in Counselor Mike's shoes... 'Cause God don't like those big canoes.

Anyhow, those are my admittedly long-winded and generally pointless thoughts.

Archived comment by ParU:
Serena - if you like Kevin Smith you definitely should get the 2 DVD set of his college lectures. Terrific and funny stuff.

And Monk - you're a Philistine.

Archived comment by Monk:
Heinlein?

Asimov?

*reaches for kama sutra desk reference*