Eggs are known for being fragile and breaking easily, but they're tougher than they look. After all, hens sit on their eggs without breaking them all the time! In this experiment, test how strong eggs really are by stacking heavy objects on them.
Materials:
-Eggs
-Bottle caps
-Book and other objects of varying weights
Instructions:
1.Place an egg onto one of the bottle caps so that the cap is holding the egg upright. Try testing out one egg first. To balance things on the egg, you'll need to place another bottle cap on top of the egg to provide a flat surface.
2. Make a hypothesis about how many books you think the egg will hold. Test your hypothesis by adding books to the stack one by one. With one egg, it will take some patience to balance the books.
3. Once you've tested your hypothesis for a single egg, guess how many books three eggs will hold. To set up your three eggs, place each egg on top of a bottle cap.
4. Start stacking books on your three eggs. You can also add other objects. Another way to test how much weight the eggs will bear is to place a plastic bin on the eggs and slowly fill it with water. See how much weight you can add before the eggs break! If you choose to use a bin of water, be prepared for it to spill. Having towels on hand or doing this outside is a good idea.
5. When enough weight is added, the eggs will crack. Make sure you do this experiment on a surface that eggs can easily be wiped off of.
6. Reflect! Did the eggs withstand more weight than you thought they would? Were the three eggs better at holding weight than the single egg? Why or why not?