Picture yourself on the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, 100 feet over the canyon, on the Kuskulana Bridge in Alaska 238 feet high or at the top of a massive crane next to the Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas. These are just a few of the sites where you can pay from $90 to $100 for the thrill and the terror of bungee jumping -- that is, if you weigh between 90 and 310 pounds and get your parent's signature if you are under 18.
History of Bungee Jumping
The legend, relayed by Think Quest, has it that the residents of Pentecost Island in the South Pacific Islands of Vanuatu, about 1,000 miles off the Eastern coast of Australia, began the bungee-jumping ritual to reenact the legend of a woman and her husband jumping off a cliff, she surviving because her ankles were tied with vines and he perishing. Contemporary Vanuatu men still perform the jump as a ritual to ensure a fruitful yam harvest and as a symbolic way for young men to enter manhood.
Modern Bungee Jumping
According to Think Quest, the first modern bungee jumpers were members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sport Club, who had seen a film about the Vanuatu jumpers and jumped off the Clifton Bridge in Bristol England in 1979. (See Reference 3) Jumpers around the world followed their lead, but had to do so early in the morning or late at night to avoid getting arrested for the illegal act of jumping off a bridge.
Think Quest notes that the first commercial jumping venue was in New Zealand in 1988, started by J.J. Hackett , who also made news when he jumped from the Eiffel Tower in 1987. (See Reference 3) Eventually, the sport became legal when operators erected cranes and towers or erected their own bridges for jumping. Time Magazine reported in 1991 that permits for jumping from hot-air balloons were on their way for official approval as well. (See Reference 4)
What It's Like
Jumpers begin by getting into a study harness attached to sturdy cords at the top of the jump. The free fall itself lasts between one to two seconds and occurs at about 60 m.p.h., according to David Thigpen and Joni Blackman, writing for "Time Magazine." They explain that the rebound effect, which occurs with what they call "a terrifying impact," is the biggest thrill of the experience. (See Reference 4)
Safety Issues
Writing in" Physics Teacher," Paul Menz states that bungee jumping "is basically safe," and that all the accidents have been caused by human error such as faulty attachments or miscalculations of height. That said, bungee jumping, like other exteme sports, causes fatalities when things do go wrong. In 1994, the AFU and Urban Legend Archive reported five deaths world wide for the sport since it began and in 2002 the Telegraph reported that a couple died in Italy while tandam bungee jumping.
The Physics of Bungee Jumping
Menz explains that bungee jumping demonstrates the principle of the conservation of energy. Physicists have created mathematical formulas that calculate the initial energy and speed and the rebound effects from springs and by extension, from bungee cords. The "gravitational potential energy" of the jumper at the top of the jump is converted to the "elastic potential energy" of the stretched cord at the bottom of the jump when the rebound effect kicks in.
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