Problem: Create a package that will protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped. Students were graded on creativity, analysis, the poster presentation and the performance of the egg drop device.1 The Science Behind the Egg Drop Competitionīased on Egg Drop Guidelines 2016 Robin Guenther, Elementary STEM Teacher, Celebration SchoolĢ Engineering Design Process – Step 1 – ASK A portion of their performance grade depended on successfully hitting the bulls eye and being able to remove the egg from their device immediately after the drop to prove that the egg did not break.Įach team also prepared a poster detailing their design and analysis then shared the poster with Flores and classmates during the last week of the course. Team members gathered on the afternoon of May 25 to see how their respective devices would fare. “For example, if you successfully predict the amount of material to within 10 percent, you will earn a better grade than predicting to within 25 percent.”

“The final grade depends on the accuracy of the prediction,” says Flores. To accomplish that, each team conducted two separate egg drop experiments: one meant to protect the egg (the “pass” device), and one using less material (by weight) that resulted in egg failure (the “fail” device). To complicate matters, each team’s analysis had to accurately predict the minimum amount of material needed to protect the egg.Įgg Drop Day draws a crowd to the south courtyard of MacQuigg Laboratory. “The device must take advantage of mechanical deformation mechanisms to protect the egg,” say Flores, rather than simply slowing its descent by using a parachute or other method. Nine teams of students in Flores’ Spring Quarter 2011 Introduction to Mechanical Behavior of Materials class each designed, analyzed, constructed and tested a device that protects a raw egg from breaking after it’s dropped from a window on the sixth floor of Ohio State’s MacQuigg Laboratory onto a three-foot-wide bulls eye positioned about 60 feet below on the lab’s brick courtyard. In fact, this is the fifth year in a row that students enrolled in her MSE 361 class have conducted an egg drop experiment. The fifth annual Egg Drop Day experiment was witnessed by students, staff and faculty on the south courtyard of MacQuigg Laboratory.Īn agriculture class would seem a more likely candidate for a project involving chicken eggs than a materials science course, but don’t tell that to MSE associate professor Kathy Flores.

6th grade egg drop challenge