Monday, January 25, 2010

Newton's First : With Raw Eggs

Many of my favorite experiments are related to Newton’s first and third laws.
Something we’re pretty familiar with around here, but when you find a good one, it’s amazing none-the-less!
That’s what this one is about.
Be brave here – you can do it! – use raw eggs. It makes it all the more impressive. (Remember the encouraging words of one of my favorite Life Teachers, “Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy!” Ms. Frizzle.
So! You’ll only need a pie pan, a raw egg :), a toilet paper tube, and a glass of water.
Assemble your tower of doom carefully.
Now – knock that pie pan to Kingdom Come! But don’t tip over the glass! And, uh… and make sure everything is aligned first!
See?
Safe and sound is your precious egg.
Now that you’ve proved how cool you are…
do it with three. Or four.
Or five!!
Dude.
Polish your knuckles against your chest upon your exit.
This experiment came from SteveSpanglerScience.com.  To see the experiment in action, visit here!

35 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a fun afternoon! You even took the 4 egg challenge. Thank you for sharing our experiment and Liking and Linking back to us!

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  2. What do you mean by knock the pan?

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  3. Lisa - push it sideways, very fast, out of the way. Like a sideways karate chop.

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  4. I want to see a video of this! I think I would just waste eggs!

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  6. Wouldn't it be easier to use something without sides? Like cut the sides off of the box lid?

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  7. Hi Lola.
    No, because you knock the whole thing out of the way - tray, and pillars. The Eggs fall straight down into the glasses.

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  8. Ha ha ha! We just sent 4 eggs flying through the kitchen before I read about the sideways karate chop!! Then it worked, of course! This one will have our family laughing for days!! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. I don't understand the "knock" concept...

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  10. You push the pie plate and the pillars out of the way... Objects at rest stay at rest. So the eggs will fall straight down when you push (karate chop) the plate out of the way. The plate has a lip, so it will take the pillars out of the way, also.
    Give the plate a sideways karate chop (fast), and the plate and pillars will go flying, and the eggs will fall straight down, into the glass. Try it with one, first, then work your way up to more, if you like.

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  11. This sounds fun, but I think I will have to try it outside first. Don't want raw egg all over the house, lol..

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  12. Very cool! The children really like this demonstration. We'd done one with a coin going into a glass, but a raw egg is SOOOoooo much more impressive!

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  13. Found this on Pinterest. What FUN! We'll definitely have to give this a try (once I figure out a substitute for a metal pie pan...mine are all glass!) My kids are going to LOVE it! Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Christephi - Use a light disposable plate with a lip. Anything with a lip will do!

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  15. What a fun experiment! :) Thanks for sharing this.

    Question: Do you know what your pattern of glasses is called? I have been looking for a very similar pattern and cannot find them anywhere. Thanks!

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    1. I have the same glasses and I got mine from target

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  16. I don't, Lacey, sorry! My dad gave them to me a few years ago. They had a rim of gold at the top, though, if that helps! :)

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  17. We did it! And I used my mad editing skillz to put together a little video demonstration for Science Week on my blog. Come see!

    http://www.christephi.com/2013/02/science-week-day-1.html

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  18. It worked with a cake pan, too. I only had glass pie plates and wasn't about to karate chop them. Just be sure you really whack the pie plate a good one!!!

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  19. How awesome! You guys are so great!

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  20. Ok... I had to try this myself. So excited. It actually worked. I used a tart pan (the only non-glass i have). Now I will show my daughter when she gets home and maybe she can do it for her kids (she works for a school)

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  21. Yea I tried this four times and broke four eggs >:

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  22. We tried this in our science class yesterday: great fun! I tried it a couple of times before the class (2 cracked eggs before success), and the children and I found that you need to knock the plate QUICKLY, not necessarily forcefully."Karate chop" implies too much force, although that is the action required. Be bold, have fun, good luck!

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  23. Yes, you have to do it fast.
    I have never had any trouble with it, the first time I tried it with one, then two, then three, then four. :) Success, all--though I was nervous! Obviously you've got to move those pillars and the support out of the way in a hurry... your hand has to knock them out from under the eggs. Quickly! :)

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  24. Could you please add the link to the video to your post? I'm having no luck finding the video for this on Steve's site.

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  26. Megan - I've added it at the new link end of the post.

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  27. Just did this and I may or may not have shrieked when I finally got the courage to whack the pan (I used a round cake pan as I didn't have aluminum pie plates). My husband laughed at me... BUT it worked! I can't wait to show the kids on our First Day of School (Monday!).

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  28. This one looks pretty fun... But I think I will do it outside, just in case....

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  29. It's super simple. Worked on the first try. Just knock the pan out of the way (hit it sideways fast)....the egg falls right into the glass.

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  30. We had a blast with this. My five year old couldnt get the hang of hitting the box fast enough so we practiced with a tennis ball instead until he got the hang of it. My three year old got it first try.

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  31. I've done this with an orange into a coffee cup (cup, cardboard rectangle atop it, small 4-sided cardboard tower next, then orange). Yanking out the rectangle is enough to knock the tower out of the way because it's so light. I've done this with two 5-yo preschool classes, too, talking about inertia. The orange is nice because not everyone gets the pull right the first time. I'm tempted to take in the eggs next week as a follow-up; looking forward to trying it!

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  32. What law is this referring to? Id like to be able to explain how and why this worked to my daughter as we did this for a home school experiment. Thank you

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  33. I did this, and the students loved it!!!

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  34. It worked. Can't wait to do this at my schools science club. The kids will love it. Thank you Stephanie.

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Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!