Physics Egg Drop Competition
Students tested their physics knowledge with the construction of their egg devices in the annual competition.
The egg drop is a classic experiment for applying the concepts of physics in the real world. The students in Mr. Burtraw's class learned the relevant physics concepts including the details of collisions, air resistance, pressure, center of mass, and torque. With this knowledge in mind, the students set to work constructing devices that they hoped would protect an egg from the impact of a 7 meter drop off of the second floor atrium in the Upper School.
Using only glue and toothpicks, the students created their devices in a variety of shapes with different ideas of how to best protect their egg. The students then put their creations to the test in front of a full audience in the Sands Forum. Senior Cameron Wright's design, weighing 99.5g (just .5g short of the project's maximum mass!) was able to successfully keep his egg intact. In addition to being graded on their devices' use of physics and engineering principals, the students had to produce a video explanation of their project that included video of the drop.
It was an exciting day of seeing applied physics in action!
Photos from the Egg Drop
