Name: ______Group # _____

Date: ______Period: _____

Class Competition: Egg Drop

Introductory Experiment

You are now going to apply your understanding of forces, impulse, and momentum to build a protective package for a raw egg.

  • The egg and package you build will be dropped from a height of 1, 2 & 3 meters.
  • Each group will receive the same materials to build the protective package.
  • No other materials will be provided.
  • You will have 20 minutes to prepare your protective package.
  • You will be working in groups of three.

(1) Paper Lunch Bag

(2) Zip-lock Sandwich Bags

(2) Sheets of Notebook Paper

(1) Paper Towel

(1) Diaper

(1) Paper Cup

(1) Styrofoam Cup

  1. Diagram your package in the space below. Label your diagram carefully, identify the features that will increase the time of the impact and reduce the force exerted on the egg.

Check your work with your teacher before proceeding to the equipment.

Make sure all members of your team have drawn a diagram.

2. Build your package. The teacher will drop the packages and you will open them to reveal the success of your design.

Explain

3. What were the results of the test? Did your egg break?

4. Explain the results of the test. What parts of your protective package contributed to your result?

5. What are some similarities that you see between all the groups’ packages in which the eggs did not break?

Mass / Force / Time Interval / Change in velocity / Impulse
5kg / 2s / 10m/s
10kg / 3s / 60m/s
2kg / 14N / 7m/s
8kg / 32N / 0.5s
25N / 1s / 12.5m/s

Momentum Impulse Practice

Directions: Calculate the unknown quantity. Remember

Egg Drop Challange Question

If an egg has a mass of 0.060kg and falls from rest from a height of 3m, what is it’s velocity right before it hits the floor?

What is the impulse of the egg when it hits the floor?

How much force is distributed to the egg when it hits the floor if it takes 2.6 x 10-4 s to come to a stop when it hits the floor?

It takes 52.3N to break an egg. Will this egg break?

Now the egg has been placed in a protective package using a parachute. The package has a total mass of 0.25 kg (including the egg). Using the parachute method, what would the acceleration need to be for the egg not to break?

Using the time interval method, how much would you need to lengthen the time interval of impact in order for the original 0.060kg egg to survive?