If we assume the slinky to have a uniform mass (mass per unit length around the circumference of slinky to be constant, or simply slinky is made of same material and has uniform thickness) and that the slinky follows Hooke's law. What is the total vertical length of the slinky, when it is held at one end and is allowed to hang under gravity. Given variables: Natural length of slinky - L, Number of turns per unit length - n, Spring constant - K, Mass of slinky - M
Attempt: This is NOT a homework problem, it's a problem I thought of myself and could not find any helpful articles online. Initially I assumed it to be a simple calculus in physics problem, where taking a general distance x from the point of hanging, the remaining weight of the slinky would provide the force for the extension of the upper spring, where the upper spring would have a spring constant following the equation: $$ KL = k_x l$$ Where, k is the spring constant of the upper spring. Now,equating k∆x with remaining(∆x can be gotten from n and L) weight we do get an equation however I am not getting an approach of introducing an elemental distance($dx$) which eventually can be integrated to get the length in terms of known variables.