Will they crack? Students test engineering skills in egg-drop challenge

Editor’s Note: Photos by Kendi Green, COMM 1318 Photography 1

Using raw eggs, recycled materials, and know how, physics students recently put the laws of gravity to the test. And they looked like they had fun doing it.

They worked in teams planning and rummaging through a giant pile of recycled materials they could use to protect their raw eggs. Some opted for bubble wrap. Others chose a combination of bubble wrap, cardboard, and foam.

“We up-cycle trash to protect the eggs,” says Physics Professor Kim Bouldin, “and then a volunteer drops them from a 6-foot ladder.”

After carefully wrapping their contest entries, students are ready for the drop.

Bouldin says students do this lab every semester in general physics when they study collisions and air resistance.

“They consider real world examples,” she says, “like landing rovers on Mars, and what it would take to do that successfully. I always tell them, ‘If you are going to jump out of an airplane, make sure you have on a chute!!!’”