Cameron+A13

Cameron A 2013 Cary Academy
 * Testing Whether Adding Mass to a Slinky Causes it to Travel Faster Down the Stairs**

The purpose of the experiment was to see if adding mass to a slinky affected how fast it traveled down the stairs. From the background research, it was hypothesized that adding mass to the slinky would make it travel down the stairs slower. This was hypothesized because adding mass to each side of a slinky would cause more force to be needed to pull the slinky over. To perform the experiment the following steps were performed. First, the materials needed for the experiment were collected. Next, the books were stacked on top of one another to create stairs. After that, the slinky was placed at the top of the books and pushed over the front of the course. Right when this happened the stopwatch was started. Then when the slinky made it to the bottom of the course the stopwatch was stopped. The experiment was then repeated three times for the medium and the large slinky. The results of the experiment was that when mass was added to the slinky, the slinky took longer to travel down the stairs. On average, the slinky with mass added to it took an extra 0.095 seconds to travel down the course.
 * Abstract**

Future experiments could be different types of slinky could be tested (plastic, steel, tin etc.), or seeing if the different surfaces the Slinky's traveled down make a difference in how quickly it travels down the stairs. In addition, a future experiment could be testing if the temperature of the slinky affected the performance. It could also be tested to see if how old a slinky is affects the consistency that it is able to travel down the stairs. Also an experiment could be done to see if the surface that the slinky traveled down affected the performance of the slinky. Some experimental improvents could be finding a more reliable sourse for applying the force that starts the slinky going down the stairs. Also using actual stairs may be more reliable than a custom made course. Finally an experimental improvement may be having slinkys that are all the same age.
 * Experimental Improvements and Future Experiments**