Graph:

This is a simulation of a longitudinal wave on a Slinky, shown in middle. At the top is a reference Slinky, showing what the Slinky looks like when there is no wave passing through it. At the bottom is a graph, which can either display the displacement, velocity, or acceleration of different points on the Slinky as a function of position. On the graph, positive corresponds to a displacement, velocity, or acceleration to the right.

The sliders allow you to adjust the frequency at which the end of the Slinky is moved back and forth, and the velocity of the wave. Note that the velocity is a property of the medium, so increasing the velocity really means changing to a stiffer Slinky.

Simulation written by Andrew Duffy, and first posted on 1-22-2018.
Updated with the graph and rainbow coils on 1-23-2018

Creative Commons License
This work by Andrew Duffy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This simulation can be found in the collection at http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/classroom.html.

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