Traralgon Junior Fire Brigade took on The Great Egg Drop Challenge (GEDC) for Thursday night training. Working in pairs, the Juniors made a craft to save their egg from a drop of 10 metres.
Equipment:
- 1 fresh chicken egg
- 50 drinking straws
- 2 pieces of paper
- Sticky tape
Task:
To create a craft that would save the egg from a fall of 10 metres. Eggs would be dropped from the ladder platform at 10 metres and then the eggs were examined for cracks.
All participants took on the challenge well and set off to brainstorm before building creations. Eggs were wrapped, sticky tapped, and protected (or so they thought) and they were sent up in the cage of the ladder platform with ‘D’ shift for the great drop. After a countdown each egg and its craft were sent floating or plummeting to the ground. Four eggs made the trip but only one survived. A little disappointed but full of determination, the kids vowed to attempt the challenge again!
Two weeks later, some research and better designs...
More teams were created, equipment divided up and eggs carefully shared and in 30 minutes teams had again made some fabulous crafts. This time we had five teams and a late inclusion from the on-duty staff ‘R’ shift.
Six crafts made the journey up in the cage of the ladder platform ready for the GEDC from 10 metres. Five crafts survived the first drop. A few had some structural damage but, most importantly, the eggs were intact. If they can survive 10 metres we thought, why not 20 metres? So up they went again, countdowns were done and the eggs came floating, one bouncing and a few splats to the ground.
Two crafts had saved the eggs, and the other three had only minor cracks in the shell! An excellent all-round effort.
Head over to our Facebook page to see some of the videos of the crafts making the journey to the ground!
Author: Jo Loeschenkohl