Pace:  7 class periods
Checkpoint: XX

Forces and Design: Egg Drop Challenge

Square Peg - Round Hole

Standard Practiced:

Big Ideas:
  • The Design Process supports scientific inquiry.
  • Forces act on objects and can be calculated.
Terms to Know:
  • g = Gravity (10m/s/s) 
  • d=Distance 
  • t = time 
  • a = acceleration 
  • v = velocity 
  • p = momentum 
  • m = mass

Practice

Your mission is to safely return an egg to Earth after being dropped from the top of the stairs at the 8th grade lounge (6m???) using only the limited resources below. The rules for this assignment are as follows:

  1. Only the materials provided are allowed for use.
  2. Only white glue (provided in class) or hot glue (bring from home) are allowed.
  3. No materials can be directly glued to the eggs.
  4. Not all materials have to be used.
  5. Groups of no more than 2
Materials
  • 1 plastic sandwich bag
  • 2 plastic straws
  • 1.5 meters of string
  • 10 popsicle sticks
  • 2 paper clips
  • 1 small box (student provided square tissue box 5in x 5in x 5in)
  • 5 rubber bands
  • 15 cotton balls
  • ​2 pieces of computer paper
  • 2 toothpicks
  • glue
Day 1
Think about your materials and how your are going to use them. While doing this, make a Version #1 annotated sketch of the design your team is going to use
​
Day 2-3
Construct your egg drop apparatus Version #1. 

Day 4
Conduct the actual egg drops and analyze the results. Complete the analysis worksheet in addition to the analysis discussion that we have after each participant completes their egg drops.

Day 4-5
Revise design and create a Version #2 blueprint (use the picture as an example) and build.

Day 6-7
Conduct the actual egg drops and analyze the results. Compare your results from Version #1 with Version #2 in an student created analysis that includes media.
egg_drop_analysis_wkst.pdf
File Size: 66 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Project modified from Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project.