The Bungee Jump: energy at work

Fun and science together

How do I know that the rubber band has the right length and strength for my jump? How am I sure that the g-forces are kept low enough that bungee jumping does not hurt?

Energy
gravitational potential energy, the elastic

potential energy and Kinetic energy

Bungee Jump Geometry

L (cord free length)

*
x (cord stretch length)

Schematic depiction of a jumper having fallen a jump height, L + x.

Potential Energy
If the fall length of the bungee jumper is (L + x) the bungee jumper has gravitational potential energy,

P.E = mg(L + x)

Hookes Law
Springs can store elastic potential energy

resulting from compression or stretching.

Amount of force required to compress or

stretch F = -kx where k is the spring constant, x is the extension

elastic potential energy,

PEelas = kx2

three phases
Rope is slack- a free fall (acceleration is equal to g) Stretch- rope reaches its maximum length Rebound- consisting of a damped oscillatory motion (not uniform one dimensional motion)

The jumper motion can be divided into three stages: stage 1 free fall, until a cord is stretching stage 2 decelerated fall caused by growing cord tension stage 3 pulling up a jumper by stretched cord.

1st gravity downward and drag (air resistance up) 2nd- gravity downward, drag and elastic restoring force up 3rd- weight of the jumper is equal to the sum of the drag and the elastic force.

Conservation of Energy
From energy considerations, the gravitational potential energy of the jumper in the initial state (height L + x) is equal the elastic potential energy of the cord in the final state (bottom of the jump) where the jumpers velocity is 0:
mg(L + x) = kx2/2 Gravitational potential energy at the top of the jump has been converted to elastic potential energy at the bottom of the jump.

Equations for x and k

When a given cord (k, L) is matched with a given person (m), the cords stretch length (x) is determined by:
x = mg/k + [m2g2/k2 + 2m*g*L/k]1/2.

When a given jump height (L + x) is matched with a given person (m), the cords stiffness (k) is determined by:
k = 2(m*g)*[(L + x)/x2]

Safety
If the bungee cord is too stretchy for the weight of the jumper, the elastic force may not have a chance to become equal in size to the weight, so will not stop the jumper from hitting the ground.
At the same time, though, it wont be a very scary stunt if the bungee cord is not springy enough.

Big Ted has a mass of 180 kg. He wants to bungee jump from a bridge that is suspended 50 m above the floor of a ravine. What length of bungee will he need if the bungee cord has an elastic constant of 120 N/m and the total elongated length is not to exceed 46 m?

In a cricket match, an inexperienced batsman hits the ball in such a way that it goes straight up into the air. How fast was the balls initial velocity if 2.1 seconds pass between the ball being struck and the ball being caught? Assume that the ball is caught at the same height at which it was hit.

Example: a firm bungee ride

Suppose a jumper weighing 70 kg jumps using a 9m cord that stretches 18m.Find k and acceleration in terms of acceleration due to gravity. If the another 9m cord stretches 27m find the acceleration?

Evaluation
Formulate a hypothesis about the weight of

the jumper compared to the stretch of the cord as the jumpers weight increases. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis.

How large is the acceleration in a bungee jump and to what degree is this acceleration influenced by the mass of the jumper

What effect does changing the mass seem to have on the total displacement, velocity, and restoring force? What happens to the number of bounces as the mass changes? What effect does changing the number of bungee cords seem to have on the total displacement, velocity, and restoring force?

What happens to the number of bounces as the number of bungee cords changes? The bungee jumper represents a massspring system, with the jumper acting as the mass and the bungee cords acting as the spring. Do more bungee cords correspond to a stiffer spring or a looser spring? Explain.

Assumptions
the motion is considered one dimensional, the rope is considered as a massless elastic, aerodynamic effects are ignored, and the stressstrain curve of the rope is assumed linear (i.e., Hookes law applies)