As students plan their schedules each year, they often know what to expect in certain classes: the math department’s graph drawings, human growth and development’s week-long baby care, and the art department’s scholastic art competition.
And in physics, there’s, the egg drop, which took place last week on the front plaza, yielding mixed results about the eggs’ lives as well as the students’ experiences.

The project consists of groups of students who submit blueprints, a justification paper, and videos over the shape and design of the contraption that they make to save the egg from cracking on impact.

“It’s an engineering project, but it’s not just building, they have to think about it,” physics teacher Lisa Watson said. “They have to go through the process of research, building, and writing, and hopefully enjoy it as much as I do.”

Although Mrs. Watson finds the experiment engaging and entertaining, students with broken eggs, not so much.

“I was really mad because we put a lot of planning into ours,” junior Valeria Herrera said. “After three drops, there wasn’t a single dent, but our egg popped out and broke.”

Junior Giselle Lamare also ended up with splattered egg yolk on the sidewalk.

“For ours, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to work,” Giselle said. “We had this really good idea first, but due to time constraints, we had to change our idea, and I feel that set us up to fail.”
But there were students who felt the project was interesting and fun — even if they suffered a crash.

“I really enjoyed building it, I thought that it was really fun,” senior Sawyer Julien said. “It was kind of tedious, but sitting there, talking with people, and building it was nice.”

The project isn’t as difficult as it appears from the outside; understanding the science behind it is key to making a carrier that will keep your egg safe.

“We want to make something that will spread out the force and that will increase the time of the impact,” Mrs. Watson said. The experiment requires calculating velocity, force, and several other things to stop the egg from breaking on impact.”

After doing the needed research and understanding the particulars, senior Sawyer Julien’s egg survived the drop, and after reflecting, she recognizes why the research was so important.

“Our egg survived, and I thought the project was pretty easy,” Sawyer said. “As long as you do the research, as well as understand and pay attention, I feel like your egg is pretty much guaranteed to survive.”