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The purpose of this experiment was to create a case and fill it up with certain materials/objects to help prevent an egg from breaking once dropped from a certain height. The class each made their own case, and filled it up with various items. After this, an egg was placed inside. Everyone dropped their case from the top of the bleachers meaning that the height at which the cases were dropped was the same for each case. This meant that all of the egg cases should have had approximately the same momentum as they hit the ground. Filling the cases up with materials before placing the egg in it should demonstrate how changing the time of impact, changes the force of impact, therefore preventing the egg from breaking. |
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DESCRIPTION OF EGG CASE My Egg case is basically a shoebox filled with layers of different materials. The bottom layer consists of two Macy’s plastic shopping bags scrunched up at the bottom. The next layer consists of four sponges placed side by side on top of the Macy’s bags. The next layer is a stack of paper towels. It is on top of this where I placed my egg. The top layer consisted of another stack of paper towels, that way, if the case landed upside down then the egg would still be protected by some sort of material. |
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DID IT BREAK? My egg didn’t break. The momentum (mass times velocity) of all the egg cases were approximately the same because all the egg cases weighed approximately one pound, and the velocity of them all was the same. Putting materials inside the case helped in increasing the time of impact and therefore decreasing the force of impact. This is called Impulse. This is the reason why my egg didn’t break. |
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REFLECTION ON DESIGN I thought my design was good as it was successful and the materials I used inside it were good at preventing the egg from breaking. The only thing which might have improved the design was if I had made my design more compact inside. There wasn’t much material above the egg, meaning that the egg could roll around inside the box whilst in the air. Having more material around the egg would help prevent this from happening. |
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REAL LIFE SITUATIONS INVOLVING IMPULSE · Preventing a car crash where to avoid a collision they turn and drive into a softer object, say a haystack for example. |
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| · Boxing – riding with the punch to increase time of impact therefore decreasing force meaning it hurts less. · |
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| · Gymnast – landing mats to prevent injuries by reducing force and increasing time of impact · |
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| Shoes – the soles of the shoes (or springs in trainers) help increase time of impact in walking therefore decreasing force · |
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| Corrugated box – if holding anything fragile when dropped, the box should slightly increase time of impact therefore decreasing force · |
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| · Football players – their padding helps to prevent injuries when the players fall or crash into one another by increasing time of impact and therefore decreasing the force. · |
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| Airbags - help prevent injuries by increasing time of impact when the person moves forwardin the car and therefore decreasing the time of impact. |  |
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| Crash mats – when stuntmen are working for a movie and say they are jumping off a tall building, the crash mat will increase time of impact and decrease the force that way the person won’t be injured. | |||
| Bike helmets – if a person falls off their bike, the helmet will increase the time of impact and decrease the force meaning there is less chance of them having a head injury |  |
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| If a box containing something fragile is stuffed with some material such as polystyrene then if it is dropped the time of impact is increased and force is decreased which may prevent the object from breaking. |  |
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