EGG DROP LANDER
Curriculum links
Skills
Space
2.2, 2.3, 3.4
Design/Inquiry
Engineering
Introduction
Students will construct some type of container that will keep a raw egg from
cracking when dropped from ever-increasing elevations.
Prep Time
15-20 min
Group Size
4-6
Materials
Items
Raw Egg
Plastic Shopping Bag
Styrofoam Cup
Recycled Packaging Materials:
coffee filter, paper towel,
foam, etc.
Masking Tape
Rubber Bands
Toothpicks
Student Worksheet
Class Time
50 min
(over 2
sessions)
Quantity Per
Team
1
1
1 pr team
1
Key Words
5 strips each
10 cm long
2
4
1 per student
Objectives: Design the best egg protection device
Students will:
o Students will gain the ability to design a ‘spacecraft’, evaluate their design,
and communicate the process of design modification.
o Discover how velocity and acceleration from falling objects relate to a force
on landing.
The challenge is to drop an egg from a specified height (usually in increasing
incremental steps from one story to three stories) and ensure that it remains
unbroken. The egg is an analogy for some precious cargo, such as a human being in a
spacecraft that ideally would not be harmed upon entry into the atmosphere from
space. Through the application of fundamental principles of physics, material
selection, and product handling, students design a package for a raw egg using
various materials supplied to them. This demonstration illustrates the concept of
free fall and introduces materials science and product handling concepts as
engineering tools
Ontario Science Centre
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EGG DROP LANDER
Teacher Preparation:
This demonstration is best presented in competition form. Divide the class into teams.
Give each team a plastic bag containing identical materials they will use in creating
their egg protection device. Do not tell students that the plastic bag can be used as
part of the challenge, let them determine that for themselves. Give each team one raw
egg. They should not be allowed to actually drop the egg until the contest begins. Be
sure to have some extra eggs handy in case some break during the design process.
Challenge the teams to design the world’s best egg protection device. The goal of this
demonstration is to allow the students to create their own design based on engineering
and manufacturing principles.
Procedure:
1. Distribute the Student Worksheet.
2. Each team of students will a build a Lander. Select someone to be a
timekeeper, measure distance and record data.
3. To test the design, start about 2 metres from the ground. Check each egg for
damage. If the egg is still intact, go up another metre and release again! The
best egg protector should be selected based on height, practicability, and
material selection.
4. The landing site will be a 1 x 1 ft target. From a ladder, balcony or stairwell
drop the Lander over the target area.
5. Record the distance and time it takes for the Egg Lander to reach the ground.
6. Open each Lander and examine the state of the egg. Broken or intact?
7. If intact, test from greater height.
Principles:
Free fall is the motion of a falling body under the influence of the Earth’s gravity
alone. If the distance of the fall is small compared to the radius of the
Earth, the acceleration is constant throughout the fall. The constant acceleration of
a freely falling body is called the acceleration due to gravity, denoted by the small
letter g. At or near the Earth’s surface, the value of g is approximately 9.8 m/s2.
F=mxa
The velocity of the body is defined as the distance through which the object falls
divided by the time it takes to reach the final destination. Velocity is often referred
to as speed, although the term speed has two different meanings. The acceleration
of a moving body is how the velocity of the body changes with time.
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EGG DROP LANDER
BACKGROUND:
Gravity is a force that impacts the way we live our lives. Even walking, which is not
possible without gravity. Gravity provides the necessary downward force on our
bodies which creates friction between our feet and the ground, allowing us to walk
(push our body weight forward with one leg and then the other).
When astronauts tried to walk on the Moon, they found it extremely difficult, as the
gravity on the Moon is approximately one sixth of what it is here on Earth. When we
jump into the air, even though it is only for a second or two, we can be said to be
momentarily overcoming the force of gravity. Engineers have designed many ways to
overcome the effects of gravity. For instance, in a Dodge Truck commercial, a truck
is dropped to the ground from a height of perhaps three feet. The truck is not
damaged by this fall due to shock absorbers and springs. The shock absorbers and
springs dissipate the kinetic energy of the truck falling, compressing them almost to
the point where the bottom of the truck hits the ground.
When other forces are combined with gravity, such as motion (the movement of an
object), inertia (the tendency of an object to resist change with regard to movement
based on its mass), or power (the ability to exert energy over time), it may be
impossible to prevent an impact causing damage. For instance, if you roll an egg
along the ground downhill at considerable velocity towards a wall, you can
reasonably expect the egg to break. Your arm provided the force (power) to
accelerate the egg to a certain velocity (motion). That motion is being increased due
to the acceleration of the egg down the hill (gravity). The egg will not drastically
vary its direction and avoid the wall (inertia tends to keep it moving in a straight
line). The combination of power, gravity, motion and inertia will probably be
sufficient to result in an impact between the egg and the wall that breaks the egg.
This impact is called the primary impact.
There is a further impact, which takes place when the egg hits the wall; this is when
the mass inside the egg impacts against the inside of the wall of the egg. The egg
white and egg yolk are usually in liquid form, and though liquid has considerable
mass, the liquid inside the egg will rarely be the cause of the eggshell breaking. If
you put a steel ball bearing into a plastic egg, and then shake the egg, you can hear
the impact of the ball bearing hitting the inside of the egg, and it is easy to imagine
the egg cracking because of the steel ball bearing.
The impact resulting from the ball bearing striking the inside of the plastic egg due
to the motion or change in motion of the egg is called the secondary impact.
Scientists and engineers have been working for many years to reduce the effect of
impacts, in the space industry as well as the automobile industry. Efforts to reduce
the primary impact (energy absorbing bumpers, crumple zones, modified chassis
construction) and efforts to reduce the secondary impact (airbags, padded
dashboards, collapsing steering wheels, and seatbelts) are commonplace.
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EGG DROP LANDER
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Student Worsheet – Egg Drop Lander
Data and Results
1. List the materials used:
2. Which material and packing technique worked the best?
3. Draw your design:
4. Length of time it took for the Lander to hit the target: _________________seconds
5. Distance of the fall: _________________________metres
6. At what speed did the Lander hit the ground: ____________________metres/second
(speed = distance ÷ time or meters ÷ seconds)
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