Energy Conversion in a Bungy Jump – Queenstown, New Zealand

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A great way to see energy conversion in action is with a bungee jump.

In Queenstown, New Zealand—the home of bungee jumping—a jumper stands almost 100 metres above the freezing water below, ready to leap from a bridge. Attached to the jumper's feet is an elastic cord which is secured to the bridge.

On the bridge, the jumper holds a huge amount of gravitational potential energy. This is energy stored due to height. The greater the height, the more potential energy.

When the jumper dives, the potential energy quickly transforms into kinetic energy, the energy of motion. The jumper accelerates toward the water, gaining speed as gravity pulls them downward. As the fall continues, kinetic energy increases while gravitational potential energy decreases.

As the jumper nears the water, something remarkable happens. The bungee cord begins to stretch, creating elastic potential energy. The cord absorbs the motion, acting like a giant spring.

At the lowest point, the jumper briefly stops. All of the kinetic energy has been transferred into elastic potential energy stored in the stretched cord.

The cord then pulls back, converting the stored elastic energy back into kinetic energy and sending the jumper soaring upwards. As the jumper rises, gravitational potential energy increases again while kinetic energy decreases. Each bounce converts energy back and forth between kinetic, elastic, and gravitational forms, gradually losing energy as the jumper comes to rest.

A bungee jump is an exciting and clear example of energy changing forms: from gravitational potential, to kinetic, to elastic, and back again.