The slinky can be shaken to produce longitudinal and transverse waves. Examples of longitudinal waves include sound waves and earthquake p-waves. Examples of transverse waves include EM waves, water ...

Have students take turns compressing 10–20 coils and then releasing them rapidly while they hold the end of the slinky, making sure to watch the energy wave travel the length of the slinky.

The movement of the coils of the slinky and the energy are parallel. However, none of the particles are transported along a longitudinal wave. Instead, they move backwards and forwards as the wave ...

Originally intended as a way to stabilize sensitive instruments on ships during World War II, the Slinky is quite simply a helical spring with an unusually good sales pitch. But as millions of ...