Splat or survivor? Landon sixth-graders compete in egg drop engineering competition
It's a scientific marvel that chicken eggs don't normally splat, but a spectacle when they do.
Along the long side of its prolate spheroid shape, a chicken egg is almost impossible to break by simply pinching with a hand. Studies have found that the average chicken egg can withstand forces of up to 100 lbs. — way more than the few pounds of weight a hen might put on the egg while brooding.
The egg protects. It incubates. But it also splats, if not properly handled, and on Thursday morning, dozens of Landon Middle School sixth-graders found out exactly what it takes to protect an egg, in this case from a 30-foot fall.
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For the past three weeks, the sixth-grade science students have studied engineering by designing and building contraptions to slow the eggs' impact as it drops from the hands of a custodian near the rafters of the Landon Middle School gym.
"We’ve been talking about the engineering and design process criteria, constraints for their devices, how to protect their eggs, iterative testing," said Tamara Brinkman, the school's sixth-grade science teacher. "It’s just fun. They make predictions, watching their eggs drop."
Some choose to slow the descent, such as by attaching makeshift, trash-bag parachutes or surrounding their eggs in balloons. Others focus instead on the moment of impact, choosing to envelop mini-structures, cases or even stuffed animals to cushion the otherwise hard hit made by 30 feet of gravity acceleration.
Students whose eggs make it join the "Survivor Club," while students whose contraptions turn into yellow, yolky goop join the "Splat Club." Both groups are just as fun, Brinkman said, especially since students' grades are not dependent on the success of their contraptions.
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"It’s a process. It’s not just about coming up with a single idea, but rather about designing and testing an idea — that iterative process that they can apply to other things, like designing a football helmet or (mitigating) car crashes)," Brinkman said.
Sixth-grader Alonzo Foster, a member of the Survivor Club, protected his egg by designing a pyramid made out of straws, tissues and tape to cushion the descent, while Splat Club inductee Alannah Wahnee's egg had dropped in a crayon box stuffed with tissues.
"I had thought mine hadn't worked, because the sound it made when it hit the floor was really loud," Alonzo said. "Also because it was made out of straw."
"Mine was also pretty loud," Alannah said. "I had dropped mine yesterday on accident, and it broke, so I wasn't too surprised when it broke during the drop."
Collecting each egg after its drop was Ron Gwaltney, an Evergy engineer who has assisted with the egg drop for over a decade.
Checking into the inside of the contraptions, Gwaltney first signaled the fate of each egg with his face, frowning in solidarity with the sixth-graders for each splat or beaming and bellowing "It's alive!" for each egg that kept its prolate spheroid shape.
"What could be cooler than getting to hang out with a bunch of sixth graders?" Gwaltney said.
Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at 785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Landon Middle School hosts yearly egg drop engineering competition
