A slap bracelet is a bracelet

Bracelet

A bracelet is an article of jewelry which is worn around the wrist. Bracelets can be manufactured from metal, leather, cloth, plastic or other materials and sometimes contain jewels, rocks, wood, and/or shells...

 consisting of layered, flexible stainless steel bistable

Bistable structure

In mechanical engineering, a bistable structure is one that has two stable mechanical shapes, particularly where they are stabilized by different curvature axes.A common example of a bistable structure is a snap bracelet....

 spring

Spring (device)

A spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication...

 bands sealed within a fabric cover. The bracelet can be straightened out, creating tension

Tension (mechanics)

In physics, tension is the magnitude of the pulling force exerted by a string, cable, chain, or similar object on another object. It is the opposite of compression. As tension is the magnitude of a force, it is measured in newtons and is always measured parallel to the string on which it applies...

 within the springy metal bands. The straightened bracelet is then slapped against the wearer's forearm

Forearm

-See also:*Forearm flexors*Forearm muscles...

, causing the bands to spring back into a curve that wraps around the wrist, securing the bracelet to the wearer.

History

Invented by Wisconsin teacher Stuart Anders and sold under the brand name "Slap Wrap", the slap bracelet was a popular fad

FAD

In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox cofactor involved in several important reactions in metabolism. FAD can exist in two different redox states, which it converts between by accepting or donating electrons. The molecule consists of a riboflavin moiety bound to the phosphate...

 among children, pre-teens

Preteen

Preadolescence is a stage of human development following early childhood and prior to adolescence. It may be defined as ending with the beginning of puberty or with the beginning of the teenage stage, the time frames in which adolescence is considered to begin. In terms of age in years,...

 and teenagers in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was available in a wide variety of patterns and colors. The bracelet was banned in several schools following reports of injuries stemming from improper use. The bracelet was later reintroduced with a plastic spring, but there were still reports of injuries. More recently, slap bracelets have been worn on the lower legs of cyclists to prevent trousers from being tangled in the gear system.