Trampolines: a simple jumping machine
Have you ever been happily bouncing on a trampoline in your backyard or gym and wondered how this simple platform can allow you to jump several feet into the air over and over again? Many people think that the springiness they feel under their feet comes from the springy synthetic fabric of the trampoline mat stretching between the frame rails, but this is absolutely not true. It’s important to understand a bit about how trampoline parts work, so that you can care for your trampoline properly and enjoy its mechanics for many years.
The trampoline jumping action is actually the result of some cleverly used physics to provide hours of endless fun. In case you’ve never seen a trampoline up close before, you should know that they are still made according to the original design, which was invented by a man named George Nissan in the 1930s. Nissan noticed that aerialists who landed on the safety net below they could use the little springiness of the ropes to bounce off their feet and sometimes into the air for one last trick.
Determined to find a way to recreate this bouncing motion on a larger scale, Nissan created an iron frame and stretched a piece of canvas over it, attaching the fabric to the frame with metal springs. These large metal springs were actually energy storage devices. The coils of the spring represent potential energy, and when a person’s weight causes them to stretch, they release their energy and return to their normal shape. When this energy is released, the depressed trampoline mat is pushed up rapidly, propelling the jumper into the air. The harder you land on the mat, the more force will be expended to push you back into the air.
Although the trampoline is a simple machine, with only a few essential trampoline parts, it is important to make sure that all of these features are working properly. All you need is one spring to bend, stretch, or rust, and the entire springy nature of the trampoline mat would be ruined. When trampolines are stored outside, the springs are in particular danger of rusting, which decreases their ability to store energy and could cause the coils to break instead of springing back.