The Best Way to Drop an Egg Without Breaking It, According to Science

Here’s hoping Humpty Dumpty reads the news. In probe retired today, scientists person seemingly figured retired the safest mode to driblet an ovum without it breaking.

Researchers astatine MIT conducted the study, published Thursday successful Communications Physics. After astir 200 experiments, the squad determined that dropping an ovum horizontally is much apt to support it intact than a vertical drop—completely contrary to people wisdom.

MIT and galore different schools regularly big an “egg driblet challenge” for their students. The extremity is elemental enough: usage immoderate ingenuity and basal materials similar toothpicks and twine to conception a contraption that volition support their eggs from breaking erstwhile dropped.

Some of the eggs from a caller ovum driblet situation astatine MIT. © Tal Cohen et al

But according to survey researcher and technologist Tal Cohen, some teachers and online sources volition often besides urge that the ovum stays vertical to further little the hazard of cracking. The underlying presumption down this proposal is that the egg’s vertical operation resembles an arch, and arches are precise bully astatine redistributing the loads of vigor (or force) placed connected them.

“After a fig of times doing this competition, we started to question the communal notion. We weren’t convinced that the static explanation, which applies to an arch, translates to the lawsuit of dynamic impact,” Cohen, an subordinate prof successful the Sustainable Materials and Infrastructure section astatine MIT, told Gizmodo.

Cohen and her squad took immoderate of the eggs near down astatine the extremity of a caller MIT situation to trial their hunch successful the lab, but their archetypal experiments were inconclusive. So they decided to commencement a ceremonial and much extended project.

In total, they dropped 180 eggs either vertically oregon horizontally onto a hard surface. The eggs were dropped successful rounds of 60 each astatine 3 antithetic heights: 8, 9, and 10 millimeters (basically betwixt 0.32 and 0.39 inches). And overall, the vertically dropped eggs fared worse. More than fractional of the vertical eggs broke erstwhile dropped 8 millimeters, for instance, compared to little than 10% of horizontal eggs. Further tests besides showed that the horizontally dropped eggs could compress much earlier breaking than the vertically dropped ones.

The findings mightiness not beryllium world-changing, but they exemplify however our accepted contented tin sometimes pb america astray, adjacent the benignant that’s taught successful subject classrooms.

“People thin to person amended intuition for stiffness and strength, which are important successful statics. It is communal that they notation intuitively to the redistribution of a load on the arch. However, erstwhile dynamics are involved, toughness is besides an important quantity,” Cohen said. “For example, see 2 balls; 1 made of glass, and the different of rubber. The solid shot is stiffer and whitethorn person higher strength, but erstwhile dropped from a height, the solid shot is besides much apt to break, portion the rubber shot tin deform to sorb the kinetic energy, without breaking.”

Cohen notes that determination are plentifulness of things successful some quality and engineering similar eggs that person bladed shells protecting their interior contents. So their probe present could precise good assistance “influence however radical deliberation astir these structures arsenic well,” she said.

Personally, I’m conscionable gladsome I’ll person different crushed to beryllium huffy astatine myself erstwhile I inevitably driblet my adjacent ovum onto the room level portion cooking—I should person remembered to support it horizontal!