During a recent outdoor activity, Upper School students in Mrs. Faunne Brown's MYP Physics HL class gathered over a 6-meter high ramp by the main gym at Lausanne. They took turns testing the durability of their handmade Egg-Drop projects, made from plastic drinking straws and transparent tape.
As a part of the annual Upper School Egg-Drop competition, MYP Physics HL students spent weeks researching real-world scenarios involving fragile objects surviving high-velocity impact conditions. Applications of airbags in vehicles and various packaging materials used in shipping were discussed to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical physics. Students worked individually or in groups of two brainstorming different designs based upon physics principles such as kinematics, impulse, conservation of energy, and air friction imposed on objects in free-fall.
Students were given the freedom to be creative with their designs to ensure the internal padding and external protection could safely land the raw egg upon impact. Before bringing their plan to fruition, Upper schoolers sketched preliminary ideas, then built prototypes to test the landing prior to competition.
"Students were encouraged to transfer and justify the use of specific design aspects of these real-world engineering solutions to their egg-drop project design," said Upper School Physics teacher Faunne Brown. "Ultimately, our students have learned a great deal about the engineering process, through trial and error, as well as a direct application of physics equations used to predict an outcome, such as time of fall and impact velocity."
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