Egg Drop Experiment (Alex Cho)

Title: Minimizing Impact or How I Learned to Save Humpty Dumpty

Principle(s) Investigated: Velocity, force

Standards: HS-PS2-3. Apply science and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.

Materials: Eggs (grocery store)

Disposable plastic bags (grocery store)

Ziploc bags (grocery store)

Plastic straws (grocery store)

Bubble wrap (post office)

Balloons

Rubber bands

Newspaper

Tape

Scissors/craft knife

Student prior knowledge: Newton's second law of motion: a force on an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.

Procedure: The teacher will drop an egg wrapped in a plastic bag from a height of two meters. Predictably, the egg will break on the floor. The students will then write down what they observed in the Google Sheet (CLICK HERE!)

Then, students will discuss things that they can do to stop an egg from breaking after being dropped from a height of 2 meters.

Materials will be made available for students to use. The class will split up into three groups.

Each group will design a device using the materials provided to construct a device that will save their egg from falling.

After __ minutes of construction, students will put their egg in the device and drop it. Students will discuss whether their designs worked and why they did/didn't work.

Then students will refine their devices and complete a second trial.

Students will clean up and discuss how their trials went.

They will then think of some real world applications for reducing the impact force on an object.

Explanation: There are a several methods that can be employed to reduce the damage that an egg takes in a fall. First, the velocity can be decreased by increasing the time it takes for the egg to fall the the ground. This can be done using a parachute, drag fins, or helium balloons. Also, the velocity during the collision can be decreased by using paper cones/straws that crumple, bubble wrap that can compress, and rubber bands/balloons that can stretch and suspend the egg in a protective shell.

Questions & Answers:

Applications to Everyday Life:

Car designers make their vehicles safer during a collision by adding crumple zones and air bags to their cars. These measures lengthen the duration of the collision, reducing the damage to the driver/passengers.

Sports helmets make their wearers safer by deforming upon collision, similar to how cars crumple. These helmets reduce the velocity of the collision.

When jumping from a height, it is much safer to land with knees flexed, rather than locked. The flexing of the knees gradually reduces the velocity of the body, reducing the damage taken.

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