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 PhW,Educ20(1994).PnntedinmsUK

'Notes on experiments' enables teachers at both
school and tertiary level to share their ideas with
other readers. Physics Education welcomes sub-
missions from readers who know of some simple
improvement to a commercially made piece of
apparatus, or who have designed a new gadget or
improved a standard experiment. In particular the
Editor would welcome brief descriptions ofexperi-
ments devised or procedures evolved during the
course of project work or investigations under-
taken by students; such submissions should be
made under the joint name of the teacher and the
student.

The physics of bungee jumping

Terry Marfint and John Marlin$
t School of Education, University of Southampton
Z King Edward VI School. Southampton

Bungee jumpers launch themselves from a plat-
form to which they are attached from their ankles
by a piece of elastic about IO metres long. Plung-
ing downwards under gravity, they are brought to
momentary rest by the elastic after it stretches to
about four times its original length. They continue
to bounce up and down several times before
coming to rest with the elastic at about twice its
original unstretched length.
Having observed bungee jumpers in action at
local charity fund-raising events, the phenomenon
seemed an excellent focus both for an A-level
project and for exploring AT1 Science Processes
with a group of Physics PGCE students.
The actual motion of a bungee jumper under the
combined influence of gravitational and elastic
forces can be investigated using a video camera.
The recording can be played back one frame at a
time on a domestic video player with this facility,
and hence a distance-time graph of the motion
may be constructed by taping an acetate sheet to
the television screen and tracing out the position at
1/2Sth second intervals. A typical result is shown
in figure I.
which reveal the nonlinear behaviour of the mater-
ial. Treating the elastic behaviour as approxi-
mately linear, you can calculate values for the
elastic constants of the samples. The dynamic
behaviour of the weights falling and bouncing up
and down can also be video-recorded and analysed
in exactly the same way as with the real jumper.
A typical result is the same as for a real bungee
jumper as shown in figure I . In addition to gener-
ating distance-time curves you can investigate
such questions as: how does the distance the
jumper plunges downwards depend upon their
wei'itan~o?ioft~elastic?
The motion can also be modelled mathematic-
ally using relevant principles of physics, which
Figure 1. Distance-time graph for a bungee jumper.
Free-fall Free-fall
c _ c _

You can easily set up a scale model of the acti-

vity using weights and lengths of elastic readily
obtainable from toy model shops. You can vary
the length and thickness of the elastic and the
weight of the jumper, and the experimental situ-
ation therefore provides ample opportunities to
carefully control variables. A useful preliminary
experiment is to statically load the elastic samples
to establish the standard stress-strain curves Time

247

mi7
jure 2. Notation lor the basic mathematical model.
therefore draws upon students’ knowledge and
understanding. The simplest model assumes linear
behaviour (Hooke’s law) for the elastic and utilizes
energy conservation as a means of investigating
the question above. We consider a sample of
elastic of unstretched length I and which stretches
to I, when loaded statically with a mass m. T h e
mass is released from rest alongside the point at
which the top of the elastic is secured. During its
subsequent motion it falls freely under gravity for
a distance I and then stretches the elastic by
varying amounts labelled x . The notation is shown
in figure 2.
For the static loading of an elastic of unstretched
length I, which extends to I, under a load mg,
I,=l+x, (1)
where xs is the static extension. If the elastic
behaviour is linear then
mg = kx, (2)
where k is the elastic constant for that particular
length and thickness of elastic.
Using conservation of energy on the dynamic
situation, we deduce
%mv2+ % k 2 = m g ( I + x). (3)
When the jumper has fallen the maximum amount,
X-, the speed Y is momentarily zero, and
%k&,,=mg(l+ x,-).
Combining equations (2) and (4) gives
= X,(l+ x,,,).
248
Solving the quadratic in the standard way gives
x,,, =x,+ e. (6)
Using the experimentally determined value for x.
for an elastic of particular unstretched length 1,
we can predict from equation (6) the maximum
distance that the weight will fall. For example,
using an elastic of unstretched length 0.5 m which
stretches to a length of 1 m when supporting the
weight generated by a mass of 0.2kg. we can
expect a maximum drop from the release point
of 1.87 m, which is very close to that obtained
experimentally.
We expect x, to be proportional to I in
general, and also to m if the elastic behaviour is
linear; these results can be checked using the video-
recording and playback method. If the elastic
behaviour were exactly linear and did not exhibit
hysteresis then the bouncing motion would consist
of a mixture of free-fall under gravity and SHM,
and would continue indefinitely. The distance-
time graph would contain both a parabolic and a
sinusoidal component. In practice there are notice-
able departures from this ideal behaviour, which
can be attributed to the actual nonlinear elastic
behaviour of the samples.
Detailed experiments and their analysis consti-
tuted a rewarding and interestin3 project for the
Nuffield A-level Physics examination. It is prob-
ably too demanding as a suitable investigation for
pupils at Key Stage 4 but did provide a useful
focus for student teachers in order to give them
a genuine opportunity for experiential learning.
It let them experience what pupils go through
when undertaking science investigations by giving
them something that ‘stretched‘ them. They were
also able to assess each other’s investigations using
the highest level statements of attainment from
ATI.
A different perspective on the subject of this
note can be found in the recent article by Minz
(1993).
Observing people who choose to bungee jump may
be an excellent opportunity for some applied
physics. However, the authors wish to stress that
they would actively discourage any of their own
students from participating in such events.
Reference
(4)
Minz P 1993 The physics of bungeejumping Fhys
Teocher31 (8) 483-7
(5)