THE GREAT EGG DROP CHALLENGE

Fifth-graders were recently asked become engineers to create a protective container for a raw egg that would be dropped from 2.5 meters. The only materials they could use were: a Foodtown bag, three straws, six cotton balls, 75cm duct tape, two 75-cm pieces of yarn, a dixie cup. The students have come up with all kinds of designs--some have protected their egg, while others have not.

Why is this important? Well, think of your egg container as a bicycle helmet protecting your brain from a bicycle fall. A good helmet provides padding, which absorbs some of the force and reduces the impact of the force on your head. In other words, increased time applied to the force of impact will protect an object from breaking.  Air bags in cars do the same thing--they create a cushion between the force and you so you won't feel it as hard. Now do you see why it's important to have a well-engineered egg container?

Here are the results so far:

Ms. Robb's class: 3 survivors, 4 tragedies
Ms. Greenspan's class: 6 tragedies
Ms. Water's class: 6 survivors
Ms. Grant's class: 2 survivors, 4 tragedies