Bungee Jump with Your Egg Drop Contest

Egg drops generally are beloved activities in science classes and joining the egg drop to a bungee jump is a clever way to use a basic concept such as Hooke’s law and the possibility of inel... See More

Egg drops generally are beloved activities in science classes and joining the egg drop to a bungee jump is a clever way to use a basic concept such as Hooke’s law and the possibility of inelastic collisions in creative ways. The article offers the neophyte classroom educator sufficient information and guidance so that the activity easily could be adapted for grades 6 through 12. Teachers could also use wood and bricks to make a bungee jump platform if the specific apparatus described is not available. Ideas for assessment are also included. This is a nice resource for explorations in force, energy, and motion, especially since it may be utilized as is or developed into STEM activities. If motion sensors and/or force sensors with appropriate interfaces and software are available, exciting data may be gathered and modeled. Students viewing the real-time motion and force graphs may delve more deeply into the science that is observable through the bungee dropping egg. Enjoy.

Great free fall activity

I would like to modify this activity and use it as an engineering challenge for my physics class when I teach about free fall. I think it would be interesting to have them perform the first... See More

I would like to modify this activity and use it as an engineering challenge for my physics class when I teach about free fall. I think it would be interesting to have them perform the first part of the experiment and graph their data. From their graph, then can derive the formula. Then, they can use the formula to calculate how many rubber bands they will need to have the egg fall 2 meters. Finally, they could test their calculations to see if their formula was valid.