5. Determine the order in which teams are to drop or ask for teams to volunteer.
Complete drops for round one before beginning round two with surviving eggs.
Suggested drop heights for rounds: 1.0 m, 1.5 m, 2.0 m, 2.5 m.
6. Before beginning the final round, conduct a brief whole-class discussion addressing
the following questions:
• Which device do you predict to win and why?
Answers will vary. Challenge students to relate the functioning of the devices to
similar situation from their prior experience. Students may refer to interactions in
which one object has more “give” than another. For example: falling on grass rather
than concrete; or, when jumping from an elevated position down to the ground,
bending your knees when your feet make contact with the ground instead of
keeping your legs straight.
• Why does a surface with more “give,” like their Collision Safety Device, produce a
safer fall?
To bring the egg to a stop, the floor or the paper device must provide an impulse,
which involves two variables—impact force and impact time. Since impact time is
longer on the paper device, a smaller impact force results. The shorter impact
time on the floor results in a greater impact force.
7. After the superior Collision Safety Device has been determined, have students
complete the Analysis and Crash Questions.
Answers to crash questions
1. Explain how your Collision Safety Device is similar to an airbag in preventing injuries.
Use the terms momentum, impulse, impact force, and impact time in your response.
To bring the egg to a stop, the paper device must change the egg’s momentum by
providing an impulse, which involves two variables —impact force and impact time.
Since impact time is longer on the paper device, a smaller impact force results. The
shorter impact time on the floor results in a greater impact force. Airbags stop
occupants with less damage by applying a small force over a large time interval.
2. Compare the impulses, impact forces, and impact
times of the following: Race Car #1 crashes to a
stop by hitting a wall head on; Race Car #2 crashes
to a stop by skidding a great distance along a wall.
Assuming both cars have equal momentum before
the crash, both race cars experience the SAME
impulse or change in momentum since they
both crash to a stop. Race Car #1 experiences
a big impact force over a short impact time.
Race Car #2 experiences small
impact force over a longer time
of impact.
Egg Crash!
Designing a Collision
Safety Device
“CRASH COURSE” ACTIVITY
Understanding Car Crashes Video 13