You will need:
- Two cartons of eggs
- One wooden board, or a large book
- Measuring weights
- Three chairs
- Be aware of egg vapour allergies in your class
Place three chairs around the two open cartons of eggs.
Sit on the middle chair and place your hands on the other two chairs.
Put one foot on each carton of eggs.
Supporting your weight with the two chairs, carefully raise yourself upright so that you slowly put more weight on the eggs until you are completely standing on them without the support of the chairs!
Get the Unit of Work on Forces here!
- Push, pull
- Friction & spin!
From inertia to centripetal force, this unit covers many concepts about Newton’s Laws!
Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more
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Why Does This Happen
Eggshells are very strong if they are compressed. The curved shape of the eggshell allows the force to be spread horizontally and vertically throughout the shell.
You can think of an eggshell as being like a 360-degree arched bridge. Engineers have known about the strength of arches for thousands of years. Arches are very stable and allow building structures to support a lot of weight. Some structures built by the ancient Romans have survived thousands of years due to arches built into their design.
Road safety application
Bike helmet curved surfaces help to distribute forces around the skull rather than directly onto the skull during a bike crash. However, it’s not just about the ability to distribute force in a bike helmet that protects you, its also the ability of the foam within the bike helmet to crumple and absorb the impact energy experienced when colliding with the ground.
Curved surfaces also distribute forces in cars and in a similar way to bike helmets, modern cars have crumple zones designed to absorb the impact forces experienced during a car crash.
Variables to test
- Is there a way to arrange the eggs so that you can use less of them and they still survive?
- Can this be done with balloons? What about water balloons?
- Does it matter if the eggs are on their side or upside-down?
Going further
Try testing how strong eggshells are with this activity
- Teaching about Newton’s laws? Check out the Forces, Friction & Movement workshop!
Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class.
Forces, Friction & Movement
Years K to 6
Maximum 30 students
School workshop
60 or 90 minutes
Online Class Available
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