Physics Of The Trampoline

I absolutely love jumping on the trampoline but I never really thought there was any physics involved. I knew you had to use a force to jump up and gravity pulls you back down obviously. An American inventor named George Nissen first invented the trampoline in 1935. (Silvia) A trampoline is defined as an elastic disc of hard canvas held up by metal springs attached to a metal skeletal frame. Kinetic and Potential energy allow you to be able to jump on a trampoline. PE=mgh this equation helps you find political energy due to gravity. (ferg)You calculate this by multiplying the mass of the person, by the height they are from the ground, by g, acceleration due to gravity. Acceleration is always 9.81m/s2. (ferg) That’s why it is harder for people
When a person jumps on the trampoline it causes the springs to compress together which causes the person to go high in the air while the spring goes back to the normal position. Larger masses make the spring stretch out more and can be shown in the equation F=ma. (ferg)Which is Newton’s 2nd law, F=force of gravity, m=mass, a=acceleration. (ferg) So the bigger the jump is the gravity force is also increased. Hooke’s law deals with the springs and equilibrium. So this law states that the spring will work to get back to equilibrium which means the springs will pull back against the weight of the person as they land. F=-kx is Hooke’s equation f=force, k=spring constant, x=displacement of spring. (ferg) Hooke’s law is like another form of potential energy. Did you know the springs and gravity on the trampoline keep you bouncing? Newton’s 3rd law states that for every action there is an equal opposite reaction. (Silvia) (Johnston) The equilibrium as described in Hooke’s law keeps you bouncing back into the air after you land on the trampolines surface again. (Hutchison) Kinetic energy is also a big part of the whole process
But as the person starts to jump again all the energy’s decrease. The physics of jumping on a trampoline also includes Newton’s 3 laws. Newton’s first law states that an object will continue its path of motion unless acted on by outside force. (ferg) So when someone jumps on the trampoline the two outside forces present is gravity & the springs. (Hutchison) When jumping up gravity is the force that makes you come back down, so without gravity you would jump up and going all the way past the stars. So now that you know what gravity does in the process of jumping on the trampoline now we can talk about the other outside force, which are the springs. (ferg)So would the same amount of kinetic and potential energy be used if a whole bunch of people jumped on at the same time instead of just one? Of course the amounts would change because a group of people have a large mass unlike a single person would only have a small mass. A large group would definitely cause the springs to stretch and then compress at a slower rate because of the gravitational pull on every single person jumping up and then coming back