It was the 24th annual Egg Drop, hosted by Sciencenter, and Ithaca families turned out in force to participate, with entries ranging from compact cardboard boxes packed with mystery cushioning to a yard-long balloon animal in the shape of a phoenix.
Contestants from pre-schoolers to teenagers to whole families made egg-protecting contraptions in the hope that their egg would survive the drop from the upper balcony of Center Ithaca to the floor of the dining area.
Egg drop contest seems to be quite a popular means of involving people, especially kids, to do what I would call "participation physics". Some time it is just fun to do things without thinking that one is actually applying physics. However, it would be nice if people involved are consciously aware that physics is involved here. Often, we encounter people who can't see how physics is relevant in many things in ordinary lives. So it would have been a good physics PR to note that, while one may not be conscious of it, one IS applying physics to do these things.
Zz.
1 comment:
We used to have a similar competition in the university (aerospace engeneering) It was pretty cool.
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