4 ms·
You could use a parachute to arrest the rate of fall. The force of the parachute acting against air resistance would resist the spring's compressive force and t
by plaguuuuuu 13y ago
You could use a parachute to arrest the rate of fall. The force of the parachute acting against air resistance would resist the spring's compressive force and thus the spring would recompress more slowly, lengthening the time for the top to fall to the bottom.
- judk 13y agoI think I that would also tend to lift the rider up to compress the spring, and since the parachute is lifting the system.
- colanderman 13y agoMm, no, the opposite I think – the rider will fall slowly. The spring remains extended due to the weight of the rider – being held aloft by a tower vs. a parachute makes no difference here. However the descending parachute shortens the spring at a rate slow enough that it can be transmitted to the rider well before the parachute reaches the ground, so the rider will fall a little bit. (This is analogous to simply lowering the hand holding the slinky – the bottom eventually follows suit.)
- plaguuuuuu 13y agoI'm pretty sure the rider stays in the same place O_o Oh god. This is going to be the next airplane-on-treadmill isn't it.
- jlgreco 13y agoI am very confident that it would fall. Consider the slinky again. If I dropped it with a parachute to slow it.... no, replace "parachute" with "my hand", but assume my hand follows the same trajectory the parachute would... the end of the slinky would not wait for my hand to approach it. The information about a change (the drop) would take the same amount of time to reach the end of the slinky. The information travels just as fast, even though the information is "we're falling slowly" instead of "we're falling".
- judk 13y agoI was thinking of a parachute unfurling, which generates an upward force as it catches air, counteracting gravity temporarily.
- StavrosK 13y agoI agree with you and think this is the correct answer.