Jumping Discs

These little metal discs are bimetallic - they are made from two different metals - and this enables them to perform an amazing physics trick!

The disc is slightly curved, and if you heat the disc in your hands you can then 'pop' the disk so that it bends the other way. You then place it on a flat surface, and it starts to cool. As it cools, the disc will, sooner or later, revert to the initial configuration. When this happens, the disc jumps several feet in the air!

HOW DO THEY WORK?

The discs are in interesting example of differential expansion. The disc is a bi-metal, having stainless steel on one side and invar on the other. Invar is a nickel-iron alloy containing 36% nickel. This alloy has a very low coefficient of linear expansion by comparison with the stainless steel.

Heat causes the bi-metal disc to expand and cooling makes it contract. Since the two surfaces expand and contract at highly different rates in response to changes in temperature, it is possible to 'lock' the disc in the loaded position when it is hot; then, as the disc cools, the increasing tension will eventually cause it to jump into the air as it reverts to its original shape!