Foothill physics students make yolks rain down during egg drop project

Foothill Tech’s physics students dropped their eggs this week at Ventura College (VC) for the annual project in physics class.

With the students’ new physics techniques, they built contraptions to protect their eggs when gravity swept their projects 15 meters off of the VC science building.

Following the project, a write-up is due to explain the mechanisms they used and why they decided to do so. The write-up is where most of the points are rewarded.

Junior Andres Coronel elaborated on how he and his partner had to explore the different physics properties.

“We had to discover how the different properties in physics relate to each other and how to prevent the egg from breaking,” he said. “So we had to use force and velocity to calculate the stopping force.”

Coronel used an uncommon technique that did not give the result he was hoping for.

“In retrospect, it seems like a bad idea, using a cone. But it was worth trying,” he said.

Senior Kiley Becker appreciates physics, although it challenges her, and used a duct tape mechanism for her project.

“My egg did not break due to the force of the impact, it broke because the bobby pins punctured the egg,” she said. “I was sad, but at least I know why it broke.”

Foothill physics students dropping their contraptions from the top of Ventura College. Credit: Johnathan Carriger/The Foothill Dragon Press

Becker saw this project as a way to portray students’ strengths and wished that she had started earlier.

“If you’re someone to take initiative, I feel like this project was a good opportunity to showcase your creativity and physics knowledge,” she said.

Physics teacher John Weldele has conducted the motion unit with the Egg Drop Project for more than 10 years.

“This gives students an opportunity to use what they have learned and put it into action, see how they can minimize the force on egg dropped from a fairly high distance,” he said. “It’s open ended so students can be as creative as they want, or uncreative as they want.”

Weldele believes that there are some students who really take advantage of the project.

“There are [students] who really put together genius mechanisms to minimize force,” he said.

—Sienna Romero