Egg-cellent Engineering

In August 2024, Derrick Wood climbed onto a platform attached to a lift outside the American Helicopter Museum in Pennsylvania. The Conestoga High School chemistry teacher, who’s not a fan of heights, waited anxiously as the vehicle carried him eight stories into the air. Wood carried an egg nestled inside a contraption his students had made using simple materials—including paper, string, and straws. Could the device keep the egg intact after plummeting more than 24 meters (80 feet)?

Wood was attempting a record-breaking egg drop. Egg drops are a popular activity for middle and high school students across the country. The goal is to build a simple device capable of protecting an egg when dropped. A few years earlier, Wood and a few of his students had set a Guinness World Record for the highest successful egg drop, at 13.3 m (43.7 ft). Then, in 2023, a college student in India broke that record with a drop from 16.8 meters (54.1 feet).

A year later, Wood and his students—who call themselves the T/E Egg Drop Team—hoped to reclaim their title. They didn’t realize it at the time, but the device they’d developed for the challenge took advantage of a strategy supported by recent research. It turns out that an egg’s orientation when striking a surface affects its chances of cracking. Would their design be enough to take back the egg drop record?

In August 2024, Derrick Wood climbed onto a platform. It was attached to a lift outside the American Helicopter Museum in Pennsylvania. The Conestoga High School chemistry teacher doesn’t like heights. As the vehicle lifted him eight stories, he waited nervously. Wood carried an egg tucked inside a contraption. His students had made it from simple materials like paper, string, and straws. The egg was about to fall more than 24 meters (80 feet). Could the device keep it from breaking?

Wood was attempting a record-breaking egg drop. Egg drops are a popular activity for middle and high school students across the country. The goal is to build a simple device that can protect an egg when dropped. A few years earlier, Wood and some of his students had set a Guinness World Record. They’d performed the highest successful egg drop, at 13.3 m (43.7 ft). Then a college student in India broke their record in 2023. That drop was from 16.8 m (54.1 ft).

A year later, Wood and his students hoped to regain their title. They call themselves the T/E Egg Drop Team. The team came up with an idea and developed a device for the challenge. They didn’t know it then, but recent research supported their idea. When an egg strikes a surface, its orientation affects its chances of cracking. Would their design take back the egg drop record?

Annual egg drops are also a tradition at many colleges, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Professors often shared a piece of advice with engineering students: Eggs would be more likely to survive if they were oriented vertically rather than horizontally. “We followed that conventional wisdom,” says MIT engineering professor Tal Cohen.

At MIT and elsewhere, experts reasoned that the more pronounced curves at the top and bottom of an egg would better protect against the force of hitting the ground than its gently sloped sides. This thinking was based in part on the use of arches in architecture. Arches help support the loads acting on a structure—like its weight and other forces.

But Cohen and her colleagues wondered what people who hadn’t heard this traditional advice would think. So they spoke with non-scientists around MIT’s campus, such as custodial staff and landscapers. Many of these community members suspected eggs dropped on their side would be safer. That’s when Cohen decided, “Let’s check!”

Yearly egg drops are also a tradition at many colleges. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is one of them. Professors often gave engineering students a piece of advice: They should position the eggs vertically, not horizontally. Then the eggs would be more likely to survive. “We followed that conventional wisdom,” says MIT engineering professor Tal Cohen.

An egg’s sides are gently sloped. But the curves at its top and bottom are sharper. It seemed that these curves would better protect against the force of hitting the ground. Experts reasoned this way partly because of arches in architecture. Arches help support the loads on a structure. These include its weight and other forces.

But many people had never heard this traditional advice. What would they think? Cohen and her team asked non-scientists around MIT’s campus. These community members included custodial staff and landscapers. Many of them thought eggs dropped on their side would be safer. So Cohen decided, “Let’s check!”

Cohen’s team squeezed eggs in clamps and measured how much force they could withstand before cracking. Whether positioned horizontally or vertically, the maximum force was about the same. The shell’s strength is roughly equal either way. But the researchers detected one interesting difference: Eggs squeezed on their sides flexed a little more before breaking than those compressed from top to bottom (see Crush Test).

Next the researchers dropped eggs. Those that landed on their sides were less likely to break than those that landed on their ends. Eggs that land sideways “can absorb more energy and fall from higher before breaking,” explains Joseph Bonavia, a mechanical engineer who worked on the study.

Before an egg is dropped, it has potential energy. As it falls, that stored energy from its height changes into kinetic energy—or energy of motion. Flexing on impact absorbs some of that kinetic energy, which helps prevent cracking. Think of how a ball made of glass—a rigid material—shatters when dropped. But a rubber ball can squish and bounce back. The MIT findings suggest that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Eggs dropped vertically didn’t survive better—they broke more often.

Cohen’s team squeezed eggs in clamps. They measured the amount of force needed to crack them. Some eggs were positioned horizontally and some vertically. But the maximum force was about the same. The shell’s strength is roughly equal either way. The researchers found one interesting difference. Eggs squeezed on their sides flexed a little more before breaking. Those squeezed from top to bottom flexed less (see Crush Test).

Next the researchers dropped eggs. Some landed on their sides. They were less likely to break than those that landed on their ends. Eggs that land sideways “can absorb more energy and fall from higher before breaking,” explains Joseph Bonavia. He’s a mechanical engineer who worked on the study.

Before an egg drops, it has potential energy. This is stored energy from its height. As the egg falls, potential energy changes into kinetic energy, or energy of motion. Flexing on impact absorbs some of that kinetic energy and helps prevent cracking. Think about a ball made of glass. When dropped, this rigid material shatters. But a rubber ball can squish and bounce back. The MIT findings suggest that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Eggs dropped vertically didn’t survive better. They broke more often.