News Archive
Physics 11 Egg Drop
Mr. Doig eggs on his class
The annual Physics 11 egg drop is always an exciting day in the science lab. Physics students are presented with a raw egg, 100 straws and 30 cm of tape. The objective – keep that egg alive! Dropping the egg from a 4th floor window of the Main Building down onto the hard stone walkway in the Quad, the students must build a structure that protects their egg so that it survives and does not crack.
The challenge also incorporates data collection, as the students must also calculate the height of the window and the egg's final speed just before it hits the ground. The only measurement device they have is stopwatch. No tape measure. No super-duper highway police radar gun. Just a stopwatch – oh, and a pencil and their physics knowledge!
It is a very tough challenge. Out of 18 different teams, only one egg survived! It was a bit of a messy day. The winning design was built using the straws in a lattice structure, somewhat like a log house, providing a nice crumple zone as the structure hit the ground, safely protecting the egg inside.
The height of the window, you may ask? You will have to drop an egg to find out!
– Paul Doig
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