🥚 The challenge
A raw egg is surprisingly strong when you squeeze its ends, but it cracks if it stops too SUDDENLY. Your job: design a contraption that lets it land gently, using a limited budget.
This isn't a guessing game. The lab uses a real physics model: how fast things fall, how parachutes create air resistance, how much everything weighs, and how much FORCE the egg feels when it lands.
🔁 The Engineering Design Process
💡 Real engineers FAIL a lot. Every broken egg teaches you something. Read the test results, then improve!
🏅 My progress
Design Lab
Pick a mission, build your design, and test it!
🎯 Mission
📋 Test log (engineers record EVERY test)
The Science of Egg Drops
Three big ideas decide if your egg survives.
⬇️ 1. Gravity speeds things up
Dropped objects fall faster and faster. From a 1-meter table, an egg hits at about 4.4 m/s. From a 10-meter roof, it would hit at about 14 m/s, which is over 30 miles per hour!
🪂 2. Air resistance slows things down
Air pushes against falling things. A parachute catches LOTS of air, so the package quickly reaches a slow, steady speed called terminal velocity. Heavier packages fall faster under the same parachute.
🛬 3. Stopping distance is EVERYTHING
When the egg lands, it has to stop. If it stops over a tiny distance (like hitting concrete), the force is HUGE. Padding, crumple zones, and balloons stretch out the stop, which makes the force much smaller. It's like catching an egg with soft, moving hands!
🥚 4. Eggs are arches
An egg's curved shell spreads force out, like an arch. It's strongest when pushed on its ends (standing upright) and weaker on its sides. That's why your lab lets you choose how the egg sits!
🎛️ Try it: stopping distance vs. force
An egg hits the ground at 5 m/s. How far does it get to slow down?
✅ Science check
Locked!
Complete 5 missions AND the Science check to write your Engineer's Report.
Engineer's Report
Real engineers explain their designs with evidence.