The Physics Behind the Egg Drop
1,659
The
Physics
Behind
the
Egg
Drop
Goal
Create a device that will protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped.
Free Fall
Free
Fall
When any object is dropped, it is considered
to be in free fall.
Force
A force is a push or pull upon an object.
Force
This results from interactions between objects.
There are 5 major forces that can be applied to the egg drop.
Newton's First Law
An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an external force.
An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted on by an external force.
With no outside forces, this object will never move.
The law explains
That any object will stay moving or stationary unless a force works to move or stop it.
With no outside forces, this object will never stop.
During the drop, the egg will keep falling towards the ground unless there is a force to change its trajectory.
Applied to the egg drop
When building a device to protect the egg, find a way to change the way the egg falls.
Hint
Speed
Speed describes how fast an object is moving.
For
example
A car driving on the highway goes 65 miles per hour.
Velocity
Velocity is speed with a specified direction.
The elevator is moving at a speed of 3 mph towards the sky (positive direction).
For
example
When the egg is in free fall, it will be going at a high velocity/speed, which will result in the fragile egg breaking when it hits the ground.
Applied to the egg drop
Hint
Try to design a device that will decrease the egg's velocity/speed when it hits the ground to minimize the force of the impact.
Acceleration
The rate at which an object speeds up or slows down.
A roller coaster has a much faster acceleration than a minivan.
For
example
The roller coaster and the minivan can reach the same speed, but it takes the minivan longer than the roller coaster to get to that speed.
Applied to the egg drop
So when an egg is dropped, the longer it falls, the faster it accelerates (therefore gaining more speed).
Gravity
Gravity is all around us - its main purpose is to accelerate objects to the ground.
That's why when an object is dropped it does not float, but goes straight to the ground.
Applied to the egg drop
When an egg is dropped it will have a gravitational pull on it that sends it straight to the ground.
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