Solve this problem the 'proper' way... Nobody else on the internet is sketching chain like this. The sketch on point hopefully makes up for leaving the mic 6 feet away.... Use the conservation of energy to find the change in velocity of a chain as it slides off a table. This solution assumes the chain and table are frictionless and the chain is of uniform linear mass density. This problem shows up in calculus based physics courses such as AP Physics C Mechanics. It also appears in some calculus and differential equation texts.