The greater-than-g acceleration of a bungee jumper

Understanding the physics of bungee jumping

“…This formula can be found in [14] and on Internet [15]. The students noted that the graphs obtained by measurement and theory are alike, with the theoretical values just a bit higher.…”

“…Theoretical underpinning of a > g Kagan and Kott [14] derived Eq. (1) by applying the conservation law of energy.…”

“…In particular, they were intrigued by the alleged 'greater-than-g acceleration' of a bungee jumper and they contacted during their experimental work one of the authors of a published paper on this subject [14] for more information.…”

“…Strnad [8] described a theoretical model of a bungee jump that takes only the mass of the bungee rope into account. The first phase of bungee jumping can also be related to other phenomena such as the dynamics of a falling, perfectly flexible chain suspended at one end and released with both ends nearby to each other at the same vertical elevation [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Experiments, numerical simulations, and analytical models discussed in the literature (also for discrete models of chains) point at the paradoxical phenomenon that the tip of a freely falling, tightly folded chain with one end suspended from a rigid support moves faster than a free falling body under gravity.…”

Newtonian Analysis of a Folded Chain Drop

“…In fact, to a good approximation none of the mechanical energy of the system is lost 2,4 although I am not alone 14 in taking issue with authors 11 who consider this conservation of mechanical energy to be easy to justify theoretically. Another system that exhibits conservation of mechanical energy is the bungee jumper, 15,16 although that is less surprising because the cord can be modeled as an elastic spring.…”