How do Newton’s Laws apply to an Egg Drop?
1. An object at rest tends to remain at rest and an object in motion tends
to continue moving in a straight-line at constant speed, unless an
outside force acts upon it.
The egg will not fall unless it is dropped (an object at rest). While at
rest, the egg has potential energy. The egg gains potential energy
as it is transported to a higher elevation for performing the egg drop
experiment.
Once dropped, it will fall. This demonstrates kinetic energy. It will be
acted upon by the following forces:
a. Gravity: which will pull it toward the earth and cause its speed
to accelerate.
b. Drag: depending upon how the egg protector is built, this will
vary, but drag will slow the fall of the egg down. Drag does not
destroy kinetic energy, but instead creates friction (between
the air and the object creating drag) and as a result transfers
the energy into heat energy (another form of kinetic energy).
c. Impact: ultimately, the egg (and its protector) will hit the
ground. The size and amount of the impact will depend upon
the speed with which the egg and protector were falling.
The Physics of an Egg Drop
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2. Force = Mass times acceleration.
The egg will accelerate based on the
pull of gravity. How much it accelerates
depends on the height from which the
egg was dropped and the mass of the
egg and protector. Force will increase
with larger masses and higher heights.
3. For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction.
The egg will hit the ground. It will exert
some amount of force on the ground
when it hits (the impact force). The
ground will, in turn, exert that same amount of force on the egg.