Sproing!
This simple toy is made from a few paperclips and can jump high into the air. Time to get bending!
Safety: This toy jumps high in the air – wear safety goggles when playing with it, and don’t shoot it near other people or pets.
Sproing! The way this toy works is quite simple. As you push down on the bug, its legs bend. When you release it, the legs unbend, launching the bug into the air. The energy you used to squish the bug is released as movement (or kinetic) energy.
But to make the bug, you bent the wire without it springing back. So what’s the difference?
When you bend, twist, stretch or squeeze a material, there are three things that can happen. It can spring back, change shape or break. Most materials will do all three, depending on how much they are bent. A small bend will spring back, a larger bend will change the material’s shape permanently, and even more bending will break it.
While not as elastic as a rubber band, paperclips are somewhat elastic. That means you can bend paper clips a fair amount before they permanently change. This helps them do their job of holding paper together. It also allows your bug to jump.
Paperclips are also ductile, which means you can bend them a lot before they break. If they weren’t ductile, you wouldn’t be able to shape this fun bug!
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