Egg Project

Physics/2nd period                                                            Katherine Villagomez

Long Island City High School                                                January 5th, 2016

        The forces acting upon the contraption are many. Some of them are:

• Gravity: This is the force that pulls objects towards each other. Objects are pulled towards the center of the earth, which causes them to fall downwards.
• Drag: Often this is also called “Air Resistance.” Drag is when forces are acting in the opposite direction of the motion of an object.
• Impact: Impact is the high force (or shock) applied over a short period of time when 2 or more objects collide. The effect depends on the relative velocity (or speed) of the two objects to one another.

The first law of Newton applies to the egg drop because it states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion tends to continue moving in a straight-line at a constant speed, unless an outside force acts upon it. Therefore, the egg will not fall unless it is dropped (an object at rest). While at rest, the egg has potential energy. The egg gains potential energy as it is transported to a higher elevation. Once dropped, it will fall and create kinetic energy. Gravity will pull it toward the earth and cause its speed to accelerate. Depending upon how the egg container is built the drag will slow the fall of the egg down and create friction (between the air and the object creating drag) and as a result transfers the energy into heat energy (another form of kinetic energy). Finally, the egg will hit the ground (outside force). The size and amount of the impact will depend upon the speed with which the egg is falling. Newton’s second law applies to this also because it says that Force = Mass times acceleration. The egg will accelerate based on the pull of gravity. How much it accelerates depends on the height from which the egg was dropped and the mass of the egg and container. Force will increase with larger masses and higher heights. The three law of Newton applies to this experiment because for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, the egg will hit the ground and exert some amount of force on the ground when it hits (the impact force). The
ground will, in turn, exert that same amount of force on the egg.