Effect of popper condition and mass on the energy and maximum height of poppers

Abstract

Poppers are inexpensive toys consisting of a ball and spring that are able to jump; each popper has an emoji design on its face. Using poppers as a model system to examine energy conservation, this experiment investigated how their mass and design/condition affected their maximum height and total mechanical energy. We examined two poppers, differentiated by mass and design/condition (5.50 g happy vs 5.40 g sad), and ran multiple trials. We recorded the maximum height and initial velocity using video kinematics. We found that the heavier, happy popper consistently reached greater heights and had a higher initial velocity and total energy than the lighter, sad popper. Due to previous usage, mechanical warping would occur in the sad popper, illustrating the effect of the specimen’s material condition on performance. We believe that specimen condition, i.e. from previous usage, is the primary factor influencing mechanical energy output rather than mass alone or emoji design, but concede our experimental design is unable to conclusively test between these alternatives.