Egg drop / parachutes

Organized by: Shayni Saftler, Andrew Giles, Christine Kim, Melissa Strait, Trang Pham

Ideas and notes:

There are 2 ways I see of going about this: We can either have them create an indestructible Casing for the egg out of stuff (Straws, etc.) or have them develop the best parachute for an egg. Or we could combine the two, but then we might not ever break the eggs.

Or we could have them choose either/or. Just give them a bunch of materials and say "hey, make this egg not break".

We should give them props for being most creative with their design, too.

If we have 35 students, I think we should split them into groups of 4 or 5. Ideally, smaller groups will work better because it's one egg drop, it's pretty much hands on, and you can't really crowd that many people around one egg drop. But if the supplies isn't a big issue, then I think groups of 3 works better.

Open issues:

  • From what height are we going to drop the stuff? We don't have access to the roof of the building. Maybe we have to bring a ladder and drop the stuff from a fixed height? We will need to experiment.
  • Put the kids on a a budget for the materials, want to price the items. Need to figure out prices.

Supplies needed: (estimated for 35 students)

  • Eggs (2 dozens)
  • Plastic Easter Eggs
  • Strings (1 ream)
  • Scissors (lots)
  • Paper, plastic material/bag (materials for parachute like the bottom of a milk container?)
  • Duct tape (several rolls)
  • Ladder?
  • bubble wrap (one small ream)
  • cloth pieces (old socks/shirts/etc)
  • batting (like the stuff you put inside quilts)
  • cardboard
  • cleaning supplies :) (LOTS of paper towels and/or rags, broom and dust pan, etc.)
  • markers, for identification/artwork on the protective devices
  • Buy gofer!

Outline of the activity:

timewhat's happening
3:00-3:10intro / distribution of stuff
3:10-3:40Work time
3:40-3:55Egg drop!!
3:55-4:00clean up :(