The Raw Egg Drop Experiment Limits

Question

When a raw egg is protected to cushion it for an "Egg Drop" challenge (typically in a middle school physical science curriculum), some teams may reason through to the optimal protection, an egg-density-matching liquid suspension inside a rigid container, with flexible spacers to hold the egg away from the container walls (to avoid transmitted shock). However, the shell is still slightly more dense than the egg liquid contents, so there may still be slight inertial effects (as there are for the skeleton inside the human body, in comparable experimental conditions!). What part of the eggshell would be most highly stressed in a "Drop", if the total egg density was exactly matched? It may help to visualize the egg in different positions at impact.

Answer 1

we did this very contest...

the winner create a "STAR" like contraption;

there were paper spikes on all sides of the egg so

that no matter which way it landed, it will not touch the floor.

there really was not much damage done to the spikes either..

2 of the tips were smashed in, that's it