Egg drop write up

We made our egg capsule out of plastic cups, string, ziploc bags, and some paper napkins. We cut slits going half way up the cup in order to increase air resistance, and to create a softer landing instead of a "bouncy" landing. The latticed string was created as a sort of nest for the egg, elevated high enough so the egg would never touch the ground during impact. The nest was slightly drooping so the egg wouldn't bounce up but instead would fall into the string nest. Then we added the napkin on top of the string nest to make sure the egg wouldn't fall through the cracks, and we also made a little belt out of another napkin so the egg wouldn't bounce out of capsule during impact. The Ziploc bags surrounding it were there for extra protection just in case the capsule tipped over, or the napkin belt was not enough to keep the egg from falling out.

 

So our capsule worked out really well for a few reasons. Our cups had two very important roles in preventing the egg from breaking. One, they increased air resistance, so the terminal velocity was never at a high speed, and two, they helped absorb force during impact. Because we used light material to build our capsule, there was never any great change in momentum. So momentum (p) = mass x velocity, and because both the mass and the velocity of the capsule were on the smaller side, the momentum of the capsule never reached a very fast speed. So because Force = change in momentum (p)/ change in time, the force the entire capsule felt was not as much as it would be if the capsule was larger, or if the capsule was not built with a good way of resisting air during its fall.  So we decreased the amount of force the capsule and egg felt by increasing air resistance (which decreases velocity), and by making the capsule pretty lightweight (which decreases the mass).

We also made sure that the egg was rested right in the center of the entire capsule in order to prevent it from tipping. But in the case that it did tip, the ziploc bags should have created some cushion for the egg, but it definitely would not work nearly as well. The ziploc bags were also helpful because they prevented the egg from falling out during impact. Newton's law of inertia states that, "an object in motion will tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside unbalanced force". So while the egg was dropping, it was being pulled down by gravity and being pushed upon by friction (from air resistance). So during its fall, the egg was moving down towards the floor because the force of gravity was greater than the force of friction, but during impact the egg suddenly felt a great amount of force from hitting the solid ground. The egg then wanted to move in an upwards direction because of the sudden and strong force from the impact, so the ziploc bags prevented the egg from doing so by blocking its path.  Then it finally was at rest, which meant the force of its own weight and the force of gravity were balanced.