Each Spring PACE hosts a STEM challenge event for Lockwood. The Egg Drop Engineering Challenge.
Students are invited to participate and create their own egg contraption designed to protect their raw egg from a 30-40 ft fall. Our little scientists, engineers, and builders have several weeks to plan and build their best egg contraption design at home, and then bring them in the day of the Egg Drop Challenge. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn planning, constructing, and the laws of physics as well as the attributes of the different materials they use. Our younger students are allowed to use parachutes on their contraptions and our older students are encouraged to participate in the “egg drop with a splat challenge” … creating something that will protect their egg while also making a splat as it hits the ground!
On the day of the event, students bring their contraptions to be checked in before school. Then during each lunch/ recess, they are dropped onto the lower field while the students watch. In the past we’ve had help from the City of Bothell Fire Department, the City of Kenmore Fire Department, and Seattle City Light for this event, making the day a little extra special for our Lockwood Leopards.
This event usually happens at the end of May or the beginning of June, and it is another great opportunity for volunteers to participate, from organizing the event to helping during the drop.
For more details, please reach out to Egg Drop Lead.
It is also a great opportunity for your company sponsorship and a great way to support your local school and community.
If you would like to sponsor or know of any other business that may be interested in supporting our enrichments and programs please contact Pace Fundraising Chair or Pace President.
Science behind the Egg Droop Challenge:
The science behind solving the falling egg “problem” is found in Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. The first law states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. This is called inertia. In this case, the egg falls because of gravity, and it keeps falling until something (the ground) stops it.
The Egg hitting the ground is a collision between the Earth and the Egg. When collisions occur, two properties of the colliding bodies are changed and/or transferred: their Energy and Momentum. This change and transfer is mediated by one or many forces.