Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado, United States - 1,053 ft - is the highest Bungee l
ID: 1772618 • Letter: R
Question
Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado, United States - 1,053 ft - is the highest Bungee location on Earth. In a bungee jumping you are connected to a long elastic cord. The thrill comes when you are falling down stretching the cord and right before seemingly inevitable fall to the ground you rebound from being picked up by the cord. Your friends are interested in going to the Royal Gorge Bridge for the bungee jumping. They ask for your opinions on safety of this activity such as the shortest height from which they can safely jump from, and the fastest speed during the jump. Using your physics knowledge, what would be your advice to them?
You can simulate the motion of a bungee jumper with a mass hung from a spring. Releasing the mass from the position when the “cord” (the spring) is fully compressed gives quite realistic approximation of the jumper motion. In the following Investigations you will examine various parameters of the bungee jump. In particular you will investigate various types of energies involved in this motion, how different types of energies are converted one into another, and finally using conservation of mechanical energy predict the shortest safest height from which a person of a given mass can jump and the highest speed the jumper would reach during the jump.
---> Describe what kinds of energies are involved in the jump. Is there more than one type of energy involved in the jump? Explain. How are different types of energies convert one into another? HINT: At the very beginning of the jump what is the velocity of the jumper? What is the velocity of the jumper at the very end when the jumper hovers right above the ground without hitting it? Why does the jumper safely stop before hitting the ground? What’s the difference between a free fall from the bridge and when the jumper is tied to an elastic cord?
Explanation / Answer
Energies involved in the jump are
- Gravitational potential energy of earth mass system
- Potential energy of cord due to it's extension
- Kinetic energy of mass as it is falling
In the begining, cord is at it's natural length, so it's potential energy is zero. Height of man is maximum, so garvitational potential energy is maximum. Man being at rest, it's kinetic enrgy is zero.
As person statrs falling, cord remains at it's natural length till, man is so much distance below the starting point, which is equal to natural length of cord. Till this position, garvitational potential energy keeps dcereasing and kinetic energy keeps increasing.
After that, cord getting stretched and it's potential energy starts increasing. But immediately after this point, rate of increase of cord potential energy is less than rate of decrease of garvitational potenttial energy, as a result kinetic energy keeps increasing.rium position, where force of cord on the man is eual to the force of gravity on man
Then comes the equilibrium position, where force of cord on the man is equal to the force of gravity on man. After this point, rate of increase of cord potential energy is more than rate of decrease of garvitational potential energy and kinetic enrgy of the mass starts decreasing.
Finally when man comes to rest, total decrease in garvtational potential enrgy is converted to cord potential energy.
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