What do you research for an egg drop science fair project?

Answer 1

Here is some useful physics: Just before the egg's package hits the ground, the egg has some speed (depending on the height from which it is dropped.) You want the egg to change its speed to zero as slowly as possible. That is, you don't want it to go from 20 miles per hour to zero miles per hour in 1/100 second. You want it to slow down gradually. (This is because it takes more force to suddenly change the speed of something than to gradually change its speed, and we want the least amount of force possible exerted on the egg.) Maybe you know the equation F = ma where "F" is force, "m" is mass, and "a" is acceleration.

Now, here is a second idea: We would rather the egg not bounce back up from the padding material. That is because if it bounces back up, changes its speed from downward, to zero, to upward. (This is further acceleration.)

What material would help us achieve these results? A spring would allow it to slow down gradually, but it would bounce it back up. Various other things are possible, like crumbled up paper or Styrofoam packing beads or foam rubber.

The idea is that you need to EXPERIMENT. That is what physics is. Trying things out. The reason that you won't be able to find the answer to this problem on the web is that there are many possible answers, depending on the restrictions that are placed on the experiment. For example, can I pack my egg with two feet of padding all around or am I limited to a few inches? How far will I drop it?

I suggest that you set some restrictions, like limiting the size of the box to maybe 6 inches on a side. Then pack the egg in various materials and try it from ever-increasing heights, starting from a foot or two. Once you find what seem to be the best two materials, you should make several tries with each material. Take good records of everything you do so that you can describe it accurately when you are finish

There are a number of things, but most importantly, the egg should NOT BOUNCE. Bouncing is the process of kinetic energy going from something into the surface it is hitting and then being returned to the thing. You want the kinetic energy transferred OUT of the egg, since this is the energy that will break the egg.