Of all the classes offered at Pines Charter (PPCHS), one of the most interesting by far is Physics Honors with Mr. Ram, Mrs. Invernizzi, or Mr. Sacher. To test the abilities of their students, every year there is an egg drop project, where students gather into groups to create a design to protect their egg from a great fall.
Students used a variety of creative designs to protect their eggs from the steep drop. Students were limited on what materials they could use, to make it fair for everyone. No tape, string, glue, or material that will hold the contraption together was allowed. There was also a strict supply list that students had to follow to participate.
Once the day arrived for students to finally put their designs into motion, each egg had to face a 19-foot drop down the C-Building stairs. Only a few students were able to save theirs from a scrambled fate.
The stakes were high, as this project was worth a majority of each student’s grade, so many were determined to create the best design to keep their eggs safe. Senior Nicole Rodriguez shared her master plan for her egg, explaining how she made “a cube out of popsicle sticks, and the egg was suspended in the middle by rubber bands and yarn and protected by cotton balls.”
Despite all losses, many students were able to have their eggs come out safe and sound! Junior Sneha Mathews was one of the few physics students to have a successful design. “It felt relieving, and it was a great moment to celebrate for my team” Mathews commented after she and her team dropped the egg.
Mathews’s grand scheme to help protect her egg was to “introduce some sort of strategy to make sure the model would bounce. We had tested many, almost 6 different models all differing in shape and materials before we finally found one that would survive the story drop.”
Out of all the methods students had chosen, one came out on top. Formatting the egg into a cube-like shape was the most beneficial design for almost all students, and it showed to help soften the impact on students’ eggs.
“I would recommend doing a box/square shape, as many triangular shapes I saw used were not able to hold the egg for the drop!” Mathews explained, reminiscing after she completed her project. Even though many students’ eggs ended up cracking under pressure, all of the physics honors students showed egg-cellent efforts in this tough challenge!
