The Egg Drop is a classic experiment that illustrates Newton’s First Law of Motion and inertia. The goal is to get the egg into the glass of water. Sound easy?
Now perch the egg atop a cardboard tube sitting in a pie pan on top of the glass of water. Sound harder? It’s easier than you think – hit the pie pan with your hand, setting it in motion. As it zips out of the way, the lip catches the cardboard tube and takes it with. The egg is not moving, it is stationary. The support comes out from under the egg so for a brief nanosecond the egg does not move, until gravity takes over and pulls it down into the glass.
My relatives all know that any time we are gathered around the table is a great time for me to show off my newest table tricks… Thanksgiving is no exception. But, with something like the Egg Drop it has to be just right, so why not practice with Mark Koebrich on 9News first? But, when the segment starts out with a broken egg before we even start the experiment, I start to wonder whether this was a good idea or not. In the end, Mark got the egg in the glass… thanks to Newton’s laws of inertia. But, the real trick came when I broke out my new trick. Five glasses of water, five toilet paper rolls, and, yes, five eggs to drop into the glasses… and, it was a success. The relatives will be so proud.
Check out the video to see a sneak peek of what my Thanksgiving afternoon will look like and read …
You might have heard about high school students conducting science experiments at the amusement park. It’s a great way for physics students to take measurements and record data from the rides as the learn about Newton’s Laws of Motion. There’s also some fun science that can be done at the water amusement parks. Okay, it’s lots of play and a little bit of learning! Recently, I made a trip to Hyland Hills Water World in Thornton, Colorado, with a crew from 9NEWS for a lesson in things that float and sink.
