Trampolines are a piece of great equipment to do some effective exercise. Although they might appear as an equipment for fun, many complex arrays of physics laws are associated with them. As it is not easy to understand these complex laws, many wonder why kinetic energy lost jump on trampolines.
Well, the thing that explains such a phenomenon is resistive forces. They oppose the change and motion of energy. Due to that, there is a loss of energy, which interrupts the energy cycle.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg; there is so much to the topic! We’ll answer the question in detail and tell you how the energy law works in a trampoline. So, if you want to know it all, continue reading!
Table of Contents
How Do We Lose the Energy to Jump on a Trampoline?
Trampoline and physics go hand in hand. The equipment is about following the laws of motion and energy, and it is an art of demonstrating ideal physics. If you studied fundamental physics as a kid, you’d know that we humans have maximum kinetic energy on the ground.
Our potential energy increases as we keep going further up in the air while jumping. At our maximum height reached, the potential energy is also top. When we jump down, the potential energy gets converted into kinetic energy, and when we hit the trampoline mat, it converts to elastic potential energy.
This elastic potential energy of the mat then pushes us up in the air again, and we gain kinetic energy to go up. We know energy cannot be created or destroyed. So, in an ideal world, this loop of energy conversion would keep happening on the trampoline, and we’d keep jumping forever, right?
Then why do we feel tired at one point and lose the kinetic energy to jump anymore? Let’s find out:
Resistive Forces
No matter how much we talk about an ideal world, in reality, we don’t live in one. In this world, countless other forces are working to decrease our velocity or make our acceleration drop to 0. These forces cause the toy car to slow down at one point or human beings to feel tired after walking. The objects are losing energy.
A common resistive force is ‘the air.’ The mat of the trampoline that has elasticity also has some resistive forces that want to maintain its initial position. So, when jumping downwards from a trampoline, not all the potential energy gets transferred to kinetic energy. Some are lost in heat and sound.
How? The drag force constantly puts a resistive force against us, where some kinetic energy is wasted to face the deceleration. When we hit the mat, noise is produced, and some of the kinetic energy gets wasted as sound energy. Friction and resistance from the mat also wasted a large portion of energy as heat.
Therefore, due to all these reasons, we lose kinetic energy whenever we jump, even on trampolines.
Final Words
Trampolines are an exciting sport. They keep our metabolism at its peak, and it’s fun to jump on them as well. We all wish we could jump on trampolines forever and never get tired. But that does not happen, so it is natural to wonder why kinetic energy lost jump on trampolines.
However, as you know by now, it’s due to the resisting forces of nature. The conversion of energy also has to play a role in this case.
Last Updated on September 9, 2022
