Egg Drop Protection Guidelines

Egg Drop Protection Guidelines

Construction:  Build your protective egg cases. 

-       Egg case must fit completely in a closed shoebox.  You may add flat decorations to the outside of the box but you may not change the aerodynamics of the box. 

-       Egg must be held in a ziplock sandwich bag for easy clean up.

-       Must be designed so that the egg can be placed in the box right before the test and EASILY removed from the box right after testing.

-       Egg case can be made out of any materials you bring from home or are provided in class but they must be safe and school appropriate.  Nothing brittle or sharp.  No glass.  No allergens.

-       Case must appear sturdy and well constructed.  You will not be allowed to drop anything that looks like it might fall apart.

-       Any liquids or messy materials must be contained or used in a way that they will not leak or explode when dropped.

Diagram/Schematic:  Neatly draw and label a diagram on a 8.5 x 11 blank, white sheet of paper showing how you built your protective egg case.  ONE diagram per group.

-       Draw at least two different views – top and side views.

-       All materials are labeled.

-       The purpose of the material is briefly described (Structure/Safety Cell; Impact absorption/crumple zone; energy redirection…)

-       “Weigh in” right before the drop and record the mass of your egg drop case on your schematic.  You will need the mass for later calculations.  The egg must be in the case before weigh in.

Egg Drop:  Use your knowledge of physics and engineering to keep your egg safe as it falls 5.1 meters off the balcony!  Time your drop to calculate your egg’s velocity and carefully observe the impact.  After the egg drop you will remove your egg and examine it for damage.  ALL EGGS AND EGG CASES WILL BE TREATED WITH RESPECT AFTER THE FALL! NO TRASHING OR DESTROYING ANYTHING!

Analysis and Revision:  Write an extended paragraph assessing the effectiveness of your design and consider modifications that could improve your original design.  EACH GROUP MEMBER MUST WRITE AN EXTENDED PARAGRAPH.  PLEASE NO DUPLICATES.

       -  Describe what happened to your egg after the drop and estimate impact force using

          the formula   Force = mass x velocity / time    Use 0.1 second for time to stop since it

          was a very fast stop time.

-       Include an explanation of why each material was used and use quantitative or qualitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of each material.

-       Explain different structural elements/design choices and use qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate their effectiveness.

-       Describe possible improvements and explain why you believe those improvements are necessary.  If you feel your device was perfect as it was, why? Explain why your “egg helmet” or “egg packaging device” was the best it could be.

Conclusion:  Write a paragraph summarizing how the egg drop experiment relates to the physics concepts we have been learning about in class.  ONE PER PERSON.  NO DUPLICATES.

-       Describe the different forces that act on falling objects.  Use vector force arrows to show the direction of the forces AND make the sizes of the arrows relative to the relative size of the force (the biggest force gets the biggest arrow). 

-       Use Newton’s first and second laws (Inertia and F=mxa), velocity, and gravity in your conclusion and explain how they apply to your egg case and egg and what happened to them in the end.

-       Connect your experiment to real world engineering problems such as helmet design, car safety, shipping containers for fragile mail, airdropping humanitarian aid after a natural disaster, etc…

Vicis Football Helmet

Here is the video explaining how the Vicis helmet is supposed to take forces away from the player - like a crumple zone in a car.  Please note the disclaimer at the end that says there is no proof yet that their claims are true.

What Caused High Lead Levels in Flint, Michigan - The Water was Too Acidic

Click HERE to read the article on NPR.  Flint switched water supplies in 2014 to highly acidic river water and they had no "corrosion control plan."  In other words, they were doing nothing to neutralize the water.

Gravitational Waves Detected

Acid Base Work Packet List of Things to Include

1.  Cover page with name and date - Optional to decorate

2.  Acid, Base and Neutrals article - annotated

3.  Neutralization Reactions article - annotated

4.  "Scientific Notebook"  - Test / Investigation Sheet

5.  "Scientific Notebook" - Follow Up Questions

6.  "Scientific Notebook"  Research Questions and Research (5th period - your research will be on your Follow-Up question paper)

7.  Acids and Bases -Presentation Notes

8.  Modeling Acids and Bases and Neutrals (paper with the beakers)

9.  Lab - Ocean Acidification "Saving a Dying Alaskan Bay"  WITH Conclusion page "Scientific Notebook"  Summary and Conclusion.

Acid, Base Vocabulary Review

Acid, Base, Neutral Vocabulary Review

Hydroxide ions (OH-)_    _ 1.  Bases release this into solution.

Hydrogen ions (H+) _____ 2.  Acids release this into solution.

___________Red _______ 3.  Color Acids turn Blue litmus paper.

________Blue    ________ 4.  Color Bases turn Red litmus paper.

__________Red  _______ 5.  Color of Universal pH Indicator in Vinegar (an acid).

_______Blue or Purple___ 6.  Color of Universal pH Indicator in NaOH (a base).

A neutralization reaction which forms a neutral or H2O and Salt____ 7.  This (or these) form when equal amounts of a strong acid and a strong base are added together.

_____Water    _______ 8.  Most common neutral.

Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Citric Acid, Vitamin C, Aspirin___ 9.  Common acid.

Soap, Bleach, Drain cleaner, NaOH, Sodium bicarbonate_ 10.  Common base.

__________0-6___ 11.  pH range of acids.

____________8-12 or 14_____ 12. pH range of bases.

____________7________ 13.  pH of neutrals.

Universal pH solution, cabbage juice (Base turns blue and acid turns red)______ 14.  A common indicator of acids and bases and how it works.


______________________ 15.  If you have an unknown liquid in the science class, how would
                                                you go about figuring out what it is and making the liquid safe
                                                for clean-up?  Describe the process.

Answer to #15 -   You could use litmus paper to first determine if you have an acid, base or neutral.  If it's neutral you can clean up with paper towels (and gloves).  To determine strength of an acid or a base, you need an indicator to determine exact pH.  If the indicator like universal pH solution turns red, you have an acid.  Mix with a common base like Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) - baking soda to neutralize - and then clean up.  For a base, use a common acid like citric acid to neutralize and clean up.  It's always good to wear gloves.  Neutral doesn't always mean safe - chemicals can still be poisonous to us.

Neutralization

Neutralization Reactions

Name ____________________________

Date   _____

Acid-base reactions are very common. In liquid solutions, acids increase the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration. On the other hand bases increase the hydroxide ion (OH-) concentration. When an acid and a base react in a solution the H+ and OH- ions combine to form water. These ions thus "neutralize" one another:

                                   H+     +      OH-    ---->   H₂O

A neutralization reaction is when an acid and a base react to form water and a salt and involves the combination of H+ ions and OH- ions to generate water.

The neutralization of a strong acid (HCl) and strong base (NaOH) has a pH equal to 7.  (If you have equal amounts of each and they are of equal strength/concentration/Molarity.)

                     HCl    +      NaOH  ------>    H₂O    +     NaCl

The neutralization of a strong acid and weak base will have a pH of less than 7, so the solution is still ACIDIC but less acidic than it was before.  It is more neutral.

The neutralization of a strong BASE and a weak acid is similar.  The result will be closer to neutral but still a base.

                              NaOH    +    vinegar  --------->     Weak Base (pH= 8-9)

Some important neutralization reactions:

1.    We take antacid tablets like Tums to neutralize stomach acid.  The antacid usually contains NaHCO₃ which is a weak base.

2.     Also in the digestive tract, neutralization reactions are used when food is moved from the stomach to the intestines. In order for the nutrients to be absorbed through the intestinal wall, a basic environment is needed, so the pancreas produce an antacid bicarbonate to neutralize the acidic food from the stomach.

3.    Another common use is in fertilizers and control of soil pH.  Fertilizers that improve plant growth are made by neutralizing sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or nitric acid (HNO3) with ammonia gas (NH3), making ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate. These are salts utilized in the fertilizer.