Chabad’s Great Egg Drop

The egg timer is ticking! You've got a small budget, some rather unusual resources and a challenge that just may seem impossible; building a device that safely protects your egg when dropped from an extraordinary height.

In this project, you will build a container which can house one egg as it falls and protects it from breaking. In building the container, you should think about how acceleration due to gravity, air resistance, momentum, potential & kinetic energy, and the work done on the container and the work done on the egg.

In your design, you should choose one variable and test the results of this variable on your container. You should test many times at home and perfect your design before bringing it to school. Your design must not include changing the egg in any way (no tape on the egg, no nail polish on the egg, no cooking…I will provide the final egg!). Some materials you may choose are posterboard, cardboard, cotton, styrofoam, diapers, tape, glue, socks, toilet paper, straws, Shish-kebab skewers, tape, or string.

  1. There will be several drops from various heights. Your egg must survive lower heights to progress to the highest!
  2. After each drop, you must be able to quickly open the container to show your egg. Grade will drop if not able to open quickly!

  1. Container must be constructed with a hatch or a door so that the egg can be inserted or withdrawn quickly.
Rules:
1. The main egg compartment cannot be bigger than 10 x 10 x 10 cm. All parts MUST fit within 25 x 25 x 25 cm. Your device will be measured before dropping.
2. The container can be of any design, but may NOT include ready-made packaging materials (bubble wrap, styrofoam, peanuts, etc.)
3. The total empty device may have a mass no greater than 600 grams.
4. A raw large egg will be provided.
5. The container must free-fall (no parachutes, nor helium balloons). Wings are allowed, but device should descend straight down, not to the side.
Failure to follow the design guidelines above will result in disqualification and a zero on the assignment.

Be creative!

You will write a lab report with all the standard sections to describe your work. In this project, you should be trying to apply some of the knowledge about motion that you have learned so far in this class. This will require some thinking on your part about how each of the units fits with the one before and those that came after. Then, these topics should be applied to building and testing this project. Your thinking process should be readily apparent in your analysis as well as your final product. Things to do:

1. Find at least 3 (three) resources from the literature which you can use to help in your design and protection of the eggs. List your sources in your background section which should be AT LEAST a half page (12 point, double spaced) plus the sources.

2. Make a list of materials you would like to use in your container.

3. Make a detailed diagram of what your container will look like.

4. Write the ‘Problem’ for your investigation. This should be very specific (and limited to one variable). You may write this as a question or as a ‘Statement of the Problem’. For example: What is the effect of adding extra cardboard to the design of an egg container? or The problem was to determine how much cotton is best in an egg container design.

5. Write a hypothesis. Make a guess or prediction!

6. Write your procedure for how to build your container and test your variable.

  1. Design a data table BEFORE we test so you only have to fill it in during the

experiments. You need to collect data not only on your design but also on your classmates. Your data should MUST include information about distance, time, velocity (average and initial and final), Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, Work, acceleration due to the gravity, height from which egg fell, score and whether or not your egg survived.

You will need to figure out the force that your egg withstood (or didn’t withstand if the egg perishes during this lab). You will figure this out by recording the time it takes for your egg to travel from the bridge to the ground. We will have a distanced calculated for you. Remember: Force = mass x acceleration. Hint: You will want to slow down the acceleration to reduce the force felt on your egg and convert the Kinetic Energy.

8. Build the container. It will probably take several tries. Test your design(s) before bringing it to school. Record this data on your data table and label as Test Trials.

9. We will drop the egg containers from the bridge onto the concrete below. We will try a few smaller heights before the drop from the bridge. Only those who survive (not leaking) the smaller drops may proceed to the higher levels.

A cracked egg is defined as one that is visibly leaking its contents (did not survive). Hairline fractures are not considered cracks and may go on to higher level.
The contestant will be required to remove the egg from the container to show judges that it did not break.

10. Collect ALL data the day of the drop!!!!!!!!!.

11. Represent your data in a meaningful way using a graph.

12. Write a full lab report. This lab report should tell about all your work. It should include any attempts you tried, and the reasons you stayed with them, or the reasons you decided to try something else. It should explain the physics that you used to collect and analyze your data. It should show the data and ANALYZE how the data helped you reach your conclusion.

Have fun!

Egg Drop Date Minus ONE day:

  1. Each container will be massed when empty. (less than than 600 grams)
  2. The length will be measured at the same time. (total less than 25 x 25 x 25 cm, egg compartment less than 10 x 10 x10 cm)
  3. An egg will given to you to determine the mass. Determine TOTAL mass!
  4. You will then place the egg in the container and, if necessary, seal or close the container.
  5. If your device uses a liquid or fluid then the egg will be massed, given to you to put into yourcontainer. The egg plus container will then be massed.
  6. If there are any special instructions for releasing the container they should be attached with a tag (a top?).

Anyone not ready will receive a zero.


Egg Drop Date:

SCORE: Egg quality post drop. Graded on a scale of 1-10. Eggs that have no cracks will earn a 10, those with cracks or hairline will receiver lower grades based on the severity of the cracks.
Ten extra points will be awarded to the projects that we vote best in each of the following categories.
Most Creative -- The most imaginative solution to the problem.
Most Complex -- The most convoluted and intricate solution to the problem.

Egg Drop Lab Write-up:

(400 points)

Egg Drop Product:

(200 points)