Can you build a container that will enable an ordinary raw chicken egg to survive a lengthy fall?
This was one of the earliest engineering design challenges, and is still a great one: many museums, camps, colleges and classrooms have yearly egg drop contests. By varying the rules – limiting the materials, the size of package and the height from which the package is dropped – the challenge can be made accessible to kindergarteners, or engaging for university students and other adults. Scicenter in Ithaca New York has been hosting an annual egg drop contest for more than 25 years, with categories ranging from Best Freefall to Most Ecological Design to “Splat.”
Illustration by Melinda Beck
Some contests have design goals other than mere survival. How light can the package be? How small? How creative? Participants can be given a limited “budget” with different materials costing different amounts. Some contests require the package fall within a target area, to discourage gliders.
Creative selection and limitation of materials radically changes the contest. Even a young and sloppy builder can easily make a successful descent using enough bubble wrap. Advanced students and engineers will be challenges by a contest that uses only a small amount of paper, or cardboard or straws, string and tape. Rubber bands and toothpicks are also challenging materials. For safety, it’s good to forbid anything breakable or flammable.
It helps to be specific, very specific. For instance, ScienceMom suggests using a dozen drinking straws, a dozen craft sticks, 4 pieces of loose-leaf paper, 1 yard of string, and one yard of masking tape gathered into a “kit” for each participant.
The eggs are usually added just before the contest; this ensures uniformity, and prevents cagey contestants from hardening the shells with tape or glue. Thoughtful contest organizers avoid mess by requiring the egg – or the whole package – to be contained in a closed baggy, and by putting drop clothes on and around the landing area.
A fine challenge in packaging engineering, the Egg Drop Challenge can also be used to highlight Newton’s Laws, animal physiology or the difficulty of landing a delicate payload
A few more hints:
A Google search will produce lots of contests, and sample rules. Here are a few for starters:
http://montshire.org/programs/special-events/egg-drop/
http://www.theworks.org/files/docs/Egg%20Drop%20Challenge%202011.pdf
http://www.tnengineering.net/eweek/Demonstrations/Egg%20Drop%20Demonstration.pdf
Eggs away!
This was one of the earliest engineering design challenges, and is still a great one: many museums, camps, colleges and classrooms have yearly egg drop contests. By varying the rules – limiting the materials, the size of package and the height from which the package is dropped – the challenge can be made accessible to kindergarteners, or engaging for university students and other adults. Scicenter in Ithaca New York has been hosting an annual egg drop contest for more than 25 years, with categories ranging from Best Freefall to Most Ecological Design to “Splat.”
Illustration by Melinda BeckSome contests have design goals other than mere survival. How light can the package be? How small? How creative? Participants can be given a limited “budget” with different materials costing different amounts. Some contests require the package fall within a target area, to discourage gliders.
Creative selection and limitation of materials radically changes the contest. Even a young and sloppy builder can easily make a successful descent using enough bubble wrap. Advanced students and engineers will be challenges by a contest that uses only a small amount of paper, or cardboard or straws, string and tape. Rubber bands and toothpicks are also challenging materials. For safety, it’s good to forbid anything breakable or flammable.
It helps to be specific, very specific. For instance, ScienceMom suggests using a dozen drinking straws, a dozen craft sticks, 4 pieces of loose-leaf paper, 1 yard of string, and one yard of masking tape gathered into a “kit” for each participant.
The eggs are usually added just before the contest; this ensures uniformity, and prevents cagey contestants from hardening the shells with tape or glue. Thoughtful contest organizers avoid mess by requiring the egg – or the whole package – to be contained in a closed baggy, and by putting drop clothes on and around the landing area.
A fine challenge in packaging engineering, the Egg Drop Challenge can also be used to highlight Newton’s Laws, animal physiology or the difficulty of landing a delicate payload
A few more hints:
- Kids of all ages love prizes, even if it’s just a certificate documenting brilliance.
- Raw eggs bring a small risk of salmonella poisoning, so make sure the eggs are properly disposed of, and that everyone washes their hands with soap after the contest. Some contests use light bulbs to avoid this problem.
- An egg drop contest is innately exciting, but gains additional pizzazz with patter from a charismatic announcer or master of ceremonies.
A Google search will produce lots of contests, and sample rules. Here are a few for starters:
http://montshire.org/programs/special-events/egg-drop/
http://www.theworks.org/files/docs/Egg%20Drop%20Challenge%202011.pdf
http://www.tnengineering.net/eweek/Demonstrations/Egg%20Drop%20Demonstration.pdf
Eggs away!
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