CP Physics
Name:
Egg Drop Design Project
In this egg drop you will work in pairs to design an egg drop project (groups of three
will only be allowed where groups of two are not possible)




In this egg drop design project you will need to build something that can
allow an uncooked egg to drop one meter to the floor without breaking.
The purpose of this project is to design and then re-design your project.
This means that you will If your egg does not break when dropped from 1
meter, you will drop it from 2 meters, and then 3 and so on.
When your egg breaks, take note of how high your egg was dropped from,
your next task is to re-design your project to improve the design using the
same materials. Now you will drop your egg from the same height that broke
it on the previous drop. If your new design is better your egg should survive
a higher drop than before.
The design process we will be using has the following steps:
The Problem:
To create something that keeps an uncooked egg safe during a one-meter drop
Investigate related science:
This means that when you develop your design you should think about what you
have learned about Impulse, Momentum, Newton’s Third Law, and the
acceleration due to gravity.
Create Possible Solutions:
Your group will have three choices of materials to create a possible solution to your
egg drop:
• One meter of masking tape, three sheets of printing paper, and four drinking
straws.
or
• One meter of masking tape, five sheets of printing paper
or
• One meter of masking tape, ten drinking straws
Test and Evaluate a Prototype:
We will drop your design with an egg in it from one meter. If the egg does not break
we will drop it from two meters, then three and so on.
Redesign to optimize your solution:
Using the same material constraints (one of the three choices), you will need to redesign your contraption to try to keep your egg safe through the same drop height
that broke your egg the first time.
Communicate your solution:
You will need to write a report in essay form analyzing:




what worked in your design
what you changed in the re-design
What physics concepts you thought about as you developed your design
and specifically what aspects of your design resulted from these
concepts
What, if anything, you would change if you could re-design a third time.
Drop and assignment parameters:
• You will have two class periods to complete this assignment.
• When you drop the egg you will need to put a doubled up piece of paper
towel on the floor where you plan to drop the egg. (a trash can near by would
be good)
• The teacher needs to observe each drop
• You will measure the drop height with a meter stick
• If needed you can drop from 3 meters by having a tall person stand on the lab
bench and reaching up high