Expert: Mike Fulcher - 4/26/2007

Question
HOW TO EGG DROP WITHOUT BREAKAGE

Answer
Even though this looks like a school project, I'll try to give you some hints.  The best way to keep it from breaking is to not drop it very far.  Egg shells are remarkable strong, however they have very low toughness (i.e. they're brittle), so in contact with hard surfaces they will break fairly easily.  If you drop an egg on a tile floor, it will break because the egg absorbs most of the energy from the fall.  If you drop it on a mattress, the egg probably won't break since the mattress is much more elastic than the egg and absorbs most of the energy.  So the most important things is to keep the egg from hitting anything hard, while providing some cushioning to absorb the energy from the fall.  When you come up with a design and want some feedback, just let me know and I'd be happy to look at it with you.