Physics Network

What is the purpose of egg drop activity?

The Egg Drop project is a highly-versatile activity that can be used to introduce students to physics, materials science, and fluid dynamics. For elementary and middle school classes, the students have a wide range of materials to ‘buy’ with their allotted budgets.

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What is the physics behind the Egg Drop?

The cup drop illustrates the transfer of potential energy to kinetic energy. The potential energy from the eggs transfers into kinetic energy after an outside force (gravity) acts upon the egg.

How is impulse and momentum applied in an Egg Drop Challenge?

Momentum Change and Impulse You have just determined that the egg dropped from 5 meters has the greater velocity change. And since the two eggs have the same mass, it is the egg dropped from 5 meters that will have the greater momentum change. In any collision, the momentum change is equal to the impulse.

How do you do the egg drop challenge?

Build your landing device and put your egg inside. Test it out by dropping your device from up high. If the egg doesn’t crack, your design is a success! If the egg cracks, make changes to your design and re-test it.

What physics principle is used to make a surviving egg drop project?

The science behind solving the falling egg “problem” is found in Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. The first law states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.

What forces affect an egg drop?

A falling object (egg) has a downward force acting on it due to gravity. Air resistance acting on the falling egg results in an upward force, and these 2 forces oppose each other.

How does the egg drop represent impulse?

Gravity causes an object to fall to Earth when dropped. Drop an egg from eye level so that it breaks. When the egg hits the ground with a given force, the ground exerts the same force back on the egg. The faster the egg falls, the greater this force is.

Is energy conserved in an egg drop?

At the end of the drop, the egg and rubber band system now possess less gravitational potential energy, no kinetic energy (it is not moving) and a lot of elastic potential energy due to the stretched rubber bands. This illustrates the Law of Conservation of Energy.

Is momentum conserved in an egg drop?

The Vehicle increases the amount of time that the force of gravity is acting on the egg. The impulse equals the change in momentum so the only way to reduce it, is to reduce the initial momentum = mv because in the end it will be stop by floor and have zero momentum there. Conservation of momentum equals mv=mv.

What is the best thing to use for an egg drop project?

Styrofoam, sponges, cotton balls, bubble wrap or even wadded newspaper can all make good padding inside the container. Give your students time to practice with a variety of materials before dropping their eggs.

How do you make an egg drop without cracking it?

To drop an egg without breaking it, wrap the egg in wet paper towels and place it in a plastic bag of puff rice cereal. Fill 4 small bags with puffed cereal too, then put all the bags into 1 large container. You can also wrap the egg in packing material, like bubble wrap, packing peanuts, or inflated plastic packets.

How much force does it take to break an egg vertically?

The average load to break the eggs when standing up was 53 Lbs. On their side, an average of 90 Lbs was required. This makes sense because eggs are flatter on their side, which allows more of the platen/foam to contact the shell, helping distribute the force across a larger area.

What causes the egg to change state of motion?

When you spin the raw egg, its centre of gravity (or balance point) changes as the fluid inside the egg moves around. This results in a wobbling motion in order to achieve balance. When the hardboiled egg is spun, the solid centre has a fixed centre of gravity, causing it to move at the same time as the shell.

How does Newton’s 3rd law apply to egg drop?

Newton’s third law states that for every action there is a opposite and equal reaction. Our egg drop project demonstrates this by there being a simultaneous reaction but in the opposite direction, so when you drop the egg and it lands, an upward force will act on it.

How does Newton’s 1st law apply to egg drop?

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How does Newton’s law affect egg drop?

Newton’s First Law, once the egg was moving, it didn’t want to stop. The container of water interrupted the egg’s fall, providing a safe place for the egg to stop moving so you could recover it unbroken. The gravity-pushed egg caused the water to splash out.

Why do straws work in egg drop?

As the whole structure rotates, a different long straw hits the ground and the process repeats.

Why eggs dropped on a carpet or a mattress do not break?

Because a carpet or a mattress is soft in comparison to the floor, the egg slows down and stops more slowly, resulting in less force on the egg, which prevents the egg from breaking.

Why does an egg not break when dropped on soft foam?

The egg dropped on the pillow slows down and stops more slowly since the pillow is squishy, therefore the force on the egg is smaller and the egg does not break. (The pillow also spreads the force over a larger part of the surface of the egg, which also helps save it).

How can you lessen the force of impact stopping force on the egg?

Some ways to do this would be to decrease the final speed of the egg using air resistance, increasing the time of the collision using some sort of cushion, transferring the energy into something else, or whatever else they can think of!

Which egg experienced the greater impulse?

Which egg experienced the greater time of impact? If their momenta are equal before the collisions (same mass and velocity), both eggs experience identical impulses because both are stopped by the collision. The egg that hit the crash barrier experienced the greater impact force due to the shorter impact time.

What is the effect of the mass of an egg and its drop height upon the force it experiences?

What affect does doubling the mass of an egg have upon the force that the egg experience? Doubling the mass makes the force twice as large.

How Does height affect momentum?

Yes, momentum increases with height. As the object falls from a greater height there is an increase in the velocity. The formula for momentum is given by the product of mass and velocity. Since the velocity of the object is high at the time of impact the momentum will be high.

What is the best shock absorber for dropping an egg?

Foam from an old cushion, cotton balls, cotton batting, stuffing, bubble wrap, old rags, toilet paper or paper towels can be used for the first, dense cushioning layer closest to the egg. Experiment with various materials and thicknesses.

What do kids learn from the egg drop Challenge?

It can be a team activity or you and your kid can do it together. Additionally, the egg drop experiment is a great way to test your child’s creativity, imagination, and strategizing skills. Additionally, the experiment also teaches them physics concepts like gravity, motion, momentum etc.

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