children from a prep school in lucton with pens in their hands

Science Week Egg Drop

Competition date: Monday 14th March

 

Objective

The objective of this competition is to design and construct a container that will prevent a raw egg from breaking when the container is dropped from a height. Successful containers will allow the egg to land on the floor without breaking.

Judging Criteria

  • Height of the This will be from the top of the fire escape in the Senior School Teaching Block, approximately 6 metres.
  • The weight of the container

Design Principles

  • The physics is how can you minimise the transfer of gravitational energy (and the force of impact) to the egg?
  • Your design needs to minimise the rate of deceleration when your egg container hits the floor, just like a crumple zone and airbags in a car protect its passengers.

Or, in simpler terms:

  • Your design needs to cushion the landing of your egg in some way.
  • Think about how a crumple zone and airbags in a car protect its passengers.

Rules

There are some rules!

  • Containers must be ready for loading with the egg at the site of only the eggs supplied by Lucton School on-site may be used.
  • Maximum size – the egg container must entirely fit within a 25cm x 25cm x 25cm cube
  • No parachutes

The materials used to make the container should be readily available, and should mainly make use of materials that would otherwise go to recycle or rubbish rather than bought specifically for this project. Glue and tape are allowed. Do not use any liquids, glass, or food products.

Winners

The winning container in each age category, if more than one egg survives the drop intact, will be the lightest container.