Examining energy storage and work done by elastic jumping poppers

Authors

  • Ishaan Sharma Science & Engineering Magnet Program , Manalapan High School image/svg+xml
  • Blaise DeMairo Science & Engineering Magnet Program , Manalapan High School image/svg+xml
  • Alexander Liddawi Science & Engineering Magnet Program , Manalapan High School image/svg+xml
  • Andrew Dolgin Science & Engineering Magnet Program , Manalapan High School image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64804/72j31w22

Keywords:

mechanics, energy, conservation, work, physics, poppers

Abstract

This experiment investigated energy storage and work done in elastic jumping poppers as nonlinear elastic systems. The maximum gravitational potential energy during launch was determined from video analysis, while force–displacement measurements obtained during compression were numerically integrated to calculate the work done on each popper. The force–displacement data revealed nonlinear elastic behavior characterized by snap-through instability. The measured launch energies were lower than the work calculated from compression measurements, indicating that although the poppers clearly stored and released elastic energy, the two methods did not produce close quantitative agreement under the conditions of this experiment.

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Published

2026-05-17

Data Availability Statement

Data and analysis code are available at https://github.com/devangel77b/427bdemairo-lab3

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Section

Articles

How to Cite

Sharma, I., DeMairo, B., Liddawi, A., & Dolgin, A. (2026). Examining energy storage and work done by elastic jumping poppers. Journal of Science & Engineering, 2(5), 94-98. https://doi.org/10.64804/72j31w22

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