Trampolines: a simple jumping machine

Have you ever been bouncing happily on a trampoline in a 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 stretchy synthetic fabric of the trampoline mat stretching between the frame rails, but this is not true at all. It’s important to understand a little about how the trampoline parts work, so you can care for your trampoline properly and enjoy its mechanics for many years.

The jumping action of the trampoline is actually the result of some physics cleverly used to provide hours of endless fun. In case you’ve never seen a trampoline up close before, you should know that they’re still made according to the original design, which was invented by a man named George Nissan in the 1930s. Nissan noticed that aerialists who fell into the safety net below could use the small stretch of the ropes to bounce off their feet and sometimes into the air for one last trick.

Nissan was determined to find a way to recreate this bouncing motion on a larger scale, so it 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 expelled to push you back up into the air.

Although the trampoline is a simple machine, with only a few essential trampoline parts, it is important to ensure that all of these features are working properly. All it takes is a 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 rather than return to their original position.