Avon Grove Middle School students had their chance to figure out if they could protect an egg from a fifty foot fall with assistance of the West Grove Fire Company this week.
The annual Egg Drop was held on Wednesday. Four large groups of students had a similar project assignment: build a "contraption" designed to protect an egg from a drop from fifty (50) feet up. A wide arrange of approaches were taken by the students, from custom-built canisters, to foam padding, to parachute-assisted containers, to bubble foam-wrapped eggs. Some approaches worked, many did not.
The crew from the WGFC set up Ladder 22, and hauled up the projects in large bags. Each container was dropped to the parking lot below, helped or "hurt" by a strong wind that was blowing that morning. Many student projects gently carried the eggs down, with no damage. Many specially-built contraptions fell apart upon smashing into the parking lot -- spewing parts and egg everywhere.
In the end, the students learned valuable lessons about physics -- and, yes, eggs can survive a 50' fall.
Units:
Ladder 22, Rescue 22, Ambulances
Firefighter Lisa Glass and Captain Andrew Vattilana send one of the packages of various egg containers to the top for the Egg Drop
Firefighters Glass and Vattilana manned the top of Ladder 22 for this exercise.
20-25 egg containers are hauled up to the top of the fire company's ladder truck. Each is launched from about 50 feet above ground.
The students await their egg container's fate...
Splat goes the egg...
Some "containers" were creative, like the egg that was successfully stored in the "belly" of this stuffed animal.
Ladder 22 serves as the platform for a lesson in middle school physics, as student-built egg containers are dropped 50 feet -- some would not make it...
Yup, custom made frames holding the eggs don't work. #Fail
