inertia egg experiment

Egg Drop Inertia Challenge

Demonstrate gravity, motion, and other forces with this incredible science trick.

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The egg drop is one of my all-time favorite science demonstrations. It’s a combination of strategy, skill, and just a little luck. The goal is to get an egg to drop into a glass of water. Sound easy enough? Did I mention that the egg is perched high above the water on a cardboard tube and that a pie pan sits between the tube and the water? Still think it’s easy? Sir Isaac Newton does. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked!

Experiment Videos

Here's What You'll Need

Large eggs (buy a dozen because you need the practice), cardboard tube from an empty roll of toilet paper, metal pie pan, pitcher of water, large drinking glass, oh, you might need a few paper towels to clean up your practice mess, tray (optional), coloring tablets (optional), let's try it.

Pick a sturdy table or counter surface to perform the demonstration. Fill the drinking glass about three-quarters full with water and center the pie pan on top of the glass. Place the cardboard tube vertically on the pie pan, positioning it directly over the water. Carefully set the egg on top of the cardboard tube.

Explain to your audience that the goal is to get the egg into the glass of water, but you’re not allowed to touch the egg, the cardboard tube or the glass of water. The only thing left for you to touch is the pie pan. What would you need to do to move the pie pan and cardboard tube out of the way in order for the egg to fall into the glass of water? That’s right . . . you’re going to invoke Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion and smack the pie pan out of the way. Don’t do it just yet . . . read the next step.

Stand directly behind the Egg Drop setup. If you’re right handed, hold your right hand straight out like you were going to karate chop something. Position your hand about 6 inches away from the edge of the pan. The idea is to hit the edge of the pie pan with enough force to knock the cardboard tube out from under the egg. Gravity will do the rest as the egg falls directly into the glass of water.

Shoot both hands up high over your head in celebration of your latest science miracle.

How Does It Work

Credit for this one has to go to Sir Isaac Newton and his First Law of Motion . Newton said that objects in motion want to keep moving and objects that are stationary want to stay still—unless an outside force acts on them. So, since the egg is not moving while it sits on top of the tube, that’s what it wants to do—not move. You applied enough force to the pie pan to cause it to zip out from under the cardboard tube (there’s not much friction between the surface of the pan and the water container). The edge of the pie pan hooked the bottom of the tube, which then sailed off with the pan. Basically, you knocked the support out from under the egg. For a brief nanosecond or so, the egg didn’t move because it was already stationary (not moving). But then, as usual, the force of gravity took over and pulled the egg straight down toward the center of the Earth.

Also, according to Mr. Newton’s First Law, once the egg began moving, it didn’t want to stop. The container of water interrupted the egg’s fall, providing a safe place for the egg to stop moving so you could recover it unbroken. The force of gravity on the egg caused the water to splash out, and the audience burst into spontaneous applause.

Take It Further

Try testing longer cardboard tubes from a roll of paper towel, different size glasses or different size eggs. Do small eggs work as well as jumbo eggs?

The true Egg Drop connoisseur will never be content with a single egg falling into a single glass. The temptation is just too great to push the envelope and find a way to position two eggs, side by side, and attempt a drop. When it works (and it will), you’ll discover that two eggs just aren’t enough. After searching day and night for weeks on end (or maybe you’ll just find one lying around the house), you’ll find the perfect tray to hold three cardboard tubes and three eggs. It’s no longer a science experiment . . . it’s an obsession with the law of inertia and gravity. Wake the kids, phone the neighbors—this is going to be something special.

Safety Information

WARNING! IMPORTANT SAFETY RULES Always wash your hands well with soap and water after handling raw eggs. Some raw eggs contain salmonella bacteria that can make you really sick!

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Drop an Egg to Prove The First Law of Motion

Newton’s first law of motion states that objects have the tendency to retain its motion or the lack of.

If a body is at rest, it has the tendency to remain at rest; If a body is moving, it tends to keep moving in a straight line at a constant speed.

This is also called the law of inertia.

Inertia is an object’s tendency to stay at rest, or keep moving until an external force is applied to change it.

Let’s do an inertia experiment.

We are using plastic eggs, but you can use real eggs to do this, too.

It was so much fun that my kid wanted to do it again and again.

Egg Drop Inertia

Here it is, a fun egg drop experiment.

• egg, I used a plastic easter egg, but you can certainly use a real one :)
• empty toilet paper roll
• an unbreakable pan with a raised edge or a shallow plastic container
• a glass big enough for the egg
• tray (optional: to catch the broken egg if you use real eggs and don't succeed on first try)
• adult supervision

Instructions

• Place the glass on a sturdy table.
• (Optional) If a real egg is used, fill the glass with water. Otherwise, an empty glass is fine.
• Center the pan on top of the glass.

• In one quick move, knock the pan sideway off the glass.
• Observe the egg fall directly into the glass.

Did you try this project?

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Why does the egg fall right into the glass while the paper roll and the pan flies sideways?

This can be explained by Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion , which states that an object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same velocity  (speed and direction) unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Because the egg is not moving at the beginning, it wants to stay that way.

When the pan is knocked off by you hand, its raised edge in turn knocks off the paper roll.

When the support of the egg is removed, gravity applies a net downward force that pulls the egg straight down.

The egg then drops right into the glass.

Try the experiment again using

• paper rolls of different lengths.
• different types of support for the egg.
• different objects on top of the paper roll.

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Museum at Home: Egg Drop Inertia

In this  experiment courtesy of Steve Spangler Science , your family will discover how gravity makes saving a falling egg easier than it sounds!  You'll demonstrate gravity, motion, and other forces while wowing your kids with this science trick. 

The Egg Drop is a classic science demonstration that illustrates Newton's Laws of Motion, namely inertia. The challenge sounds so simple—just get the egg into the glass of water, but there are a few obstacles. The egg is perched high above the water on a cardboard tube, and a pie plate sits between the tube and the water.

Still think it's easy? Sir Isaac Newton does.

• Cardboard tube
• A large drinking glass
• Tray (optional)
• Coloring Tablets (optional)
• Fill the large drinking glass about three-quarters full with water.
• Center a pie pan on top of the glass.
• Place the cardboard tube on the pie plate, positioning it directly over the water.
• Carefully set the egg on top of the cardboard tube.
• With your writing hand, smack the edge of the pie pan horizontally. Don't swing up, and don't swing down! It’s important that you hit the pie pan horizontally and use a pretty solid hit, so plan on chasing the plate and tube.
• Your astonished guests will watch the egg plop nicely into the water. It’s even more fun to watch someone else try to drop the egg.

What's going on:

Also, according to Mr. Newton’s First Law, once the egg was moving, it didn’t want to stop. The container of water interrupted the egg’s fall, providing a safe place for the egg to stop moving so you could recover it unbroken. The gravity-pushed egg caused the water to splash out. Did someone get wet?

Take It Further

• Add coloring to the water in your egg drop for added effect.
• Try testing longer tubes, more or less water, different liquids in the glass, different water containers, and heavier or lighter falling objects. 
• Worried about the potential mess? You can also try this with a cup, an index card, and a penny!

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Thedadlab nature workbook, 10 best stem toys for a fun and educational christmas, halloween grid printable, 25 best splash parks, paddling pools and fountains in london 2022, egg drop experiment with raw eggs.

This is an egg-stremely simple experiment to set up and is a fun way to demonstrate the principles of gravity, motion and inertia.  As well as the items listed below you will need steady nerves for this egg-citing activity.

What you’ll need for egg drop project

To begin with fill the glass approximately two thirds full of water

Place the paper plate on top.

Next, stand the cardboard tube on its end in the middle of the plate.

Rest an egg in the cardboard tube at the top.

You are now ready!  Give the edge of the plate a firm hit with the palm of your hand to knock it off the top of the glass.

You may be worried that the egg will fly across the room along with the plate and cardboard tube making a horrible mess but miraculously the egg falls straight down into the water.

Science Explained

Newton’s first Law of Motion says that if something is sitting still (like an egg in a cardboard tube) then it will stay still unless something else tries to move it – this describes the principle of inertia.

There is not much friction at all between the plate and the rim of the glass so it does not take much power from your hand to knock it and the tube off.

For a split second the egg will continue to stay still (because of its inertia) and then gravity takes effect and the egg falls straight down into the glass.

Taking It Further

If you are feeling more adventurous why not try lining up two or three glasses together and see how many eggs you can get to fall simultaneously. 

What happens if you try balancing other things on top of the tube like a coin resting on a postcard?

Once you have mastered this trick you can make it even more exciting for your friends by using different coloured water or you can tell them the last time you did this everyone in the audience was covered in egg!

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The Incredible Inertial Egg Drop! (Physics)

• Posted on 24 March 2020
• By Hema and Eric Bulmer
• Posted in inertia , newton , physics , video

Get ready to learn a trick that you'll master within 2 or 3 tries and amaze people with every time you do it. It's the Incredible Inertial Egg Drop! GREAT intro demonstration for Newton's 1st Law!

The Incredible Inertial Egg Drop!

Get ready to learn a trick that you'll master within 2 or 3 tries and amaze people with every time you do it. It's the Incredible Inertial Egg Drop! GREAT intro demonstration for Newton's 1st Law! Keep reading below the graphic for some content & extension info.

Experigraphic

What's Going On?

Newton's First Law of Motion (the Law of Inertia) says that objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by a force. That's why this works - the egg has significantly more inertia than either the bowl or the tube, and is therefore much more difficult to stir from rest. When you apply force to the bowl, the tube is knocked out by the bowl's wall, but the egg's inertia keeps it at rest until it is acted upon by an outside force - namely, Gravity, which pulls it straight down into the waiting glass of water.

1. You might go through an egg or two while getting this one down pat. I suggest putting your entire set-up onto a tray during your learning period. That way, any broken eggs will be on the tray for easier clean-up.

Practice hitting the side of the bowl with just enough force to knock it and the toilet paper tube out, but be careful of too much follow through - you do NOT want your hand to be under the falling egg!

Keep the force of your strike perpendicular to the glass - in other words, hit it sideways - no upward or downward force!

Extension Idea

Start with a Toilet Paper Roll. When you're confident and hitting that every time, try moving up to a paper towel roll!

© Hema and Eric Bulmer. All rights reserved.

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Egg inertia

Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments:

You will need

• One drinking glass, three-quarters full of water
• One sheet of newspaper
• One cardboard toilet roll
• One plastic tray or plate (This piece of equipment must cover the glass, be flat on the bottom and have a raised lip around the top)
• One egg (if a student has egg allergies you can change this to a water bomb instead)

• Instruction

Place the newspaper on the table, to stop the splashing water getting the table wet.

Place the glass of water in the middle of the newspaper.

Place the tray/plate on top of the glass, and stand the toilet paper roll on top of it. Note: Make sure the toilet paper roll is directly above the glass of water. We don’t want our egg to hit the table instead of the water!

“Ready for a karate chop!”

Add your egg on top of the toilet paper roll. Use a water bomb if there a egg allergies in the room.

Now for the tricky part. You need to very quickly knock the tray/plate sideways, using a kind of “sideways karate chop” technique. The tray will fly horizontally, and the raised lip on the edge will catch the toilet roll, and the egg should fall straight down into the water, and stay un-cracked!

Variation: Try this experiment without the water in the glass!

For a bit of fun at Easter, use chocolate eggs for the ‘egg-speriment’ instead 🙂

Get the Unit of Work on Forces here!

• Friction & spin!

From inertia to centripetal force, this unit covers many concepts about Newton’s Laws!

Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more

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Why Does This Happen

Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion says that an object that’s moving will continue to stay moving, and one that’s stationary will continue to stay still unless a new force is applied to it.

While the egg is balancing on the toilet roll, the egg isn’t moving and so it wants to remain that way. When you knock the tray sideways, you apply a force that moves it quickly out of the way. The raised lip on the tray transfers this force to the toilet roll and it too flies sideways. At this point, the egg is still stationary for just a split second, until gravity gets a hold of it and pulls it down into the glass.

This is the same principle that makes the classic magic trick, where a magician whips a tablecloth off a table leaving the crockery and cutlery still there, work.

Road safety application.

Inertia (the tendency of moving objects to stay moving) is critical to understand when you’re thinking about road safety. Without seatbelts in our cars, our bodies would keep moving forwards if our car stops suddenly, for example in a crash. The seatbelt applies a force to our bodies that slow them down, stopping us going flying. The same goes for loose objects that are hanging around in the back seat of your car – an unrestrained object can move forwards in a car crash and can become a projectile.

Variables to test

More on variables here

• How lightly can you hit the tray and still have the gg fall into the glass?
• Does this work if swap the egg out for a much heavier or lighter object?

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more in Experiments

The egg drop challenge.

You will need:

• 1 plastic cup of water with a mouth wide enough to fit the egg.
• 1 10” (25 cm) piece of cardboard or a small tray with a SMOOTH bottom
• 1 cardboard tube (paper towel or toilet paper tubes work well)
• 1 Egg (uncooked for more drama)

What to do:

• Place the tray centered over the cup
• Place the tube on its end in the center of the tray
• Place the egg horizontally on the tube
• When ready, strike the tray hard enough with your palm to send the tray flying, but not so hard you hit the glass of water. If all goes well, the tray and paper tube will go flying, but the egg will safely drop into the water.

How does it work?

INERTIA describes an object in terms of how much energy is needed to move it or stop it from moving. Since the tray and tube are very low mass (lightweight,) they have very little inertia, and will easily move out of the way. The egg, however is heavier (has more inertia) and so it is not easily moved, leaving it in place for gravity to bring it down into the cup.

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Last Modified: May 24, 2022 by Tara Gerner Leave a Comment

Egg Drop - Easy Kids Science Experiment

The egg drop experiment seeks to answer the question how can I keep an egg from breaking? This is an old experiment done by many kids over many years, and it never seems to lose its fun factor.

As soon as they learned one of our Super Science Summer experiments was an egg drop, my kids grabbed the materials and went to town. It was the very first experiment of the whole summer and I have to admit, they didn't do very well at it.

I think the key to a good egg drop is understanding the concepts ahead of time.

Then again, they might not care about the concepts and just want to drop eggs from high heights.

Either way is okay, I guess, but the idea of Super Science Summer is to get them thinking and doing real science, so the concepts are sort of important.

All that said, my kids had no interest in the concepts. They only want to do the thing, and I let them because I'm fun like that. We'll probably try it again another time this summer and talk more about the transfer of energy and inertia.

Egg Drop Materials

The materials for this experiment are really simple.

• Eggs - if your kids are anything like mine, you will need the better part of a dozen
• Paper towels - You're going to need a lot of these throughout the summer, so get a couple of rolls.
• Duct tape  - You can get this cheaper at the craft store, but don't get it at Walmart. The rolls there are too small (even though they cost less, you won't have enough tape).
• Popsicle sticks
• Scavenged items - Your kids will need a few other things, but you can let them scour the house on the day of the experiment. Gracie and Allie used cotton balls, plastic shopping bags, toilet paper tubes, balloons, and some coffee filters. I personally would have used a kitchen towel, but she didn't ask for my advice.

Egg Drop Instructions

• Design and build a container that will protect an egg when it is dropped from a high height. The container should, at a minimum, have padding for the egg.
• Drop the egg from a high height.
• Unwrap the egg and see if it is unbroken.

That's really it. This experiment sounds super easy, but depending on where you drop your egg from, you may find that it is a real challenge!

Grace and Allie first dropped theirs from the crow's nest on their treehouse. I would guess that it's about 15 feet up, and the eggs fell onto the grass. Allie's egg broke at this height, but Grace's survived.

Since Grace's egg survived the first drop, we decided to drop it out my bedroom window over the driveway.

We had high hopes about the drop out the window. Alas, it broke.

So Grace went back to the drawing board, retooled her design with lots of plastic bags duct taped around the egg.

It still didn't work.

The third egg broke, too.

So then she gave up. Like I said above, hopefully we'll give this another try later on in the summer.

The Science

Newton's First Law of Motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion - unless an outside force acts on it. This is called inertia . In this case, the egg falls because of gravity, and it keeps falling until something (the ground) stops it. The egg is moving really fast when it hits the ground, so the force is big. The large force breaks the egg unless there is something in the way to provide cushion and absorb the force.

There's a second thing going on here, and that is energy. When the egg is up high, it has a lot of potential energy. Potential energy is the energy of position. When you drop it, the potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. When the egg suddenly stops, the kinetic energy is lost in the collision. Or actually, it's not lost. It is disbursed through the egg, and that shatters the shell. So you have to do something to absorb the kinetic energy so that it can't shatter the egg.

Extend the Experiment

You could start this experiment by dropping the egg from above your head. And then drop it from a ladder and then something higher. See how high you can go before the egg breaks.

Here's a really well done YouTube video explaining five designs that will work well, as well as the science behind the whole egg drop business. It's a little less than ten minutes long. Good stuff.

Check out Super Science Summer , my at-home science summer camp going on for 11 weeks in 2016!

More elementary aged kids.

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Egg experiment to demonstrate inertia

A simple and effective practical demonstration of inertia using a spinning raw egg.

When the egg is spun its contents also spins.  Momentarily stopping the egg does not stop its contents from spinning.  On release the egg begins to spin again. The contents of the egg resist any change in its motion.

This could be developed by discussing how we utilise inertia, for example a flywheel on a bus to save energy.

Key words: inertia, spinning.

NC: Newtons laws of motion.  Understand what factors affect the moment of inertia.

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Egg Inertia (Amazing Egg) Science Experiment

The first couple of times the boys used too much force and the glass was pushed over, or the egg went flying across the yard as they hit the toilet roll as well. This is why we did it outside. Amazingly the egg lasted the 10 times that this experiment was tried. Some have actually taken it further and used 3,4 and even 5 eggs/toilet rolls and glasses. We didn’t, as we didn’t have that many eggs at the time.This amazing egg experiment in based on Isaac Newton’s Law of Motion (also known as the Law of Inertia). “Every object in a state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” 

Basically objects keep doing what they are doing, whether it be rest or motion, until something else exerts force onto it.

What you need:

• toilet roll

The egg should plop into the water.

Steve Spangler Science Egg Drop Inertia Trick Egg Drop Utube Video

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April 30, 2013 at 3:50 am

Thank you for sharing this fun experiment on NextGen Homeschool’s “What’s Working Wednesday” link-up! Science experiments are one of my girls’ favorite activities, and we’re always on the lookout for new ones. We hope you’ll continue to link up with us each week. Renée at NextGen Homeschool

April 30, 2013 at 7:44 pm

I have got to try this experiment with my girls! They will love this. Thank you so much for sharing on We Made That, I am going to feature this tomorrow on the linky!

May 3, 2013 at 7:41 pm

Visiting from TGIF Friday. I’d like to invite you to my Friday Flash Blog, where you can share your best blog entry of the week! And who knows, you may just get featured next week.

Jennifer thejennyevolution.com

May 4, 2013 at 1:35 am

FUN! We’ll have to try this. Also visiting from TGIF

April 30, 2014 at 10:45 pm

Thanks for sharing at The Geeky Homeschool Link Up! This is a great project. I see this happening over here this summer. I don’t know that our egg will survive the 4 year old for long though. 😉

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Egg Experiment to Demonstrate Inertia

Lesson introduction.

This lesson explores the fascinating physics of spinning eggs, highlighting the differences between boiled and raw eggs in terms of motion and inertia. When a raw egg is spun and then stopped, the liquid yolk inside continues to move due to inertia, creating the illusion that the egg is still spinning. In contrast, a boiled egg, being solid throughout, stops completely when the shell is halted, demonstrating how inertia affects motion in everyday objects.

Lesson Article

The fascinating physics of spinning eggs.

Have you ever noticed how a boiled egg spins differently from a raw egg? It’s a cool way to see physics in action! When you spin a boiled egg, it moves smoothly, but a raw egg wobbles. There’s a neat trick you can try to understand why this happens, and it all has to do with something called inertia.

The Trick with Raw Eggs

Here’s a fun experiment: Spin a raw egg and then stop it quickly. You might see something surprising—the egg seems to start spinning again! This happens because of a physics concept called inertia.

Understanding Inertia

Inertia is a property that makes things resist changes in their motion. When you spin a raw egg, both the shell and the liquid yolk inside start rotating. If you stop the shell suddenly, the yolk keeps spinning because of inertia. This makes the egg look like it’s spinning again, even though the shell has stopped.

The Difference with Boiled Eggs

A boiled egg is different because it’s solid all the way through. When you stop the shell of a boiled egg, the whole egg stops at once. There’s no liquid inside to keep spinning, so there’s no inertia to make it move again.

This simple experiment with eggs shows us how inertia and motion work. It’s a great reminder of how physics is all around us, even in everyday things like eggs! Next time you have an egg, try this experiment and see physics in action for yourself.

Lesson Vocabulary

Physics – The branch of science that studies matter, energy, and the interactions between them. – In our physics class, we learned about how forces affect the motion of objects.

Eggs – Oval or round objects laid by female birds, reptiles, fish, and some mammals, often used in scientific experiments to demonstrate principles of motion and force. – We used eggs in our experiment to see how different surfaces affect their rolling speed.

Inertia – The tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. – Due to inertia, the egg continued to roll even after we stopped pushing it.

Motion – The change in position of an object over time. – The teacher explained that the motion of the egg can be described by its speed and direction.

Experiment – A scientific procedure undertaken to test a hypothesis or demonstrate a known fact. – Our experiment showed that a boiled egg spins differently than a raw egg.

Boiled – Heated in water until solidified, often used to describe eggs that have been cooked in this way. – The boiled egg spun smoothly because its contents were solid.

Raw – Uncooked or in a natural state, often used to describe eggs that have not been boiled. – The raw egg wobbled when spun because the liquid yolk moved inside.

Spinning – Rotating rapidly around an axis. – We observed that a spinning egg can help us understand the concept of angular momentum.

Shell – The hard outer covering of an egg. – The shell of the egg protects the yolk and white inside during our experiments.

Yolk – The yellow part of an egg, rich in nutrients, located in the center. – When the egg is raw, the yolk moves freely, affecting how the egg spins.

Discussion Questions

• How did the article enhance your understanding of the concept of inertia, and can you think of other everyday examples where inertia plays a significant role?
• Reflect on a time when you observed an object in motion and noticed its behavior change. How does this relate to the principles discussed in the article about spinning eggs?
• What surprised you the most about the differences in how boiled and raw eggs spin, and why do you think this experiment is a good demonstration of physics principles?
• How might the concept of inertia be important in understanding other scientific phenomena or in practical applications in technology and engineering?
• Can you think of a situation in your daily life where understanding inertia could help you solve a problem or improve a process?
• Discuss how the experiment with spinning eggs could be used as a teaching tool in a classroom setting. What aspects of the experiment make it effective for learning?
• How does the explanation of inertia in the article change your perception of motion and rest in objects around you?
• If you were to explain the concept of inertia to someone unfamiliar with physics, how would you use the spinning egg experiment to illustrate your points?

Lesson Activities

Egg spin-off challenge.

Grab a boiled egg and a raw egg. Spin each one on a flat surface and observe the differences. Write down your observations. Why do you think the boiled egg spins smoothly while the raw egg wobbles? Discuss your findings with a partner.

Inertia in Action

Perform the trick with a raw egg: Spin it, stop it quickly, and watch it start spinning again. Try to explain this phenomenon using the concept of inertia. How does the liquid inside the egg contribute to this effect?

Egg-citing Experiment

Design an experiment to test how different factors (like the speed of spinning or the surface texture) affect the spinning of raw and boiled eggs. Record your results and present them to the class. What conclusions can you draw about inertia and motion?

Physics in Everyday Life

Think of other everyday objects that demonstrate inertia. Choose one and create a short presentation explaining how inertia affects its motion. Use diagrams or videos to support your explanation.

Math Meets Physics

Calculate the moment of inertia for a simple object, like a spinning disk. Use the formula $$I = frac{1}{2} m r^2$$, where $m$ is the mass and $r$ is the radius. How does this relate to the spinning eggs? Discuss how mass distribution affects inertia.

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Egg Spinning

Activity length, forces and motion, activity type, demonstration.

In this demonstration, students discover a practical way of determining whether or not an egg is raw or hard-boiled using Newton's First Law of Motion regarding an egg's centre of gravity .

I nside its shell, a hard-boiled egg is solid whereas a raw egg is fluid .

• When you spin the raw egg , its centre of gravity (or balance point) changes as the fluid inside the egg moves around. This results in a wobbling motion in order to achieve balance.
• When the hardboiled egg is spun, the solid centre has a fixed centre of gravity, causing it to move at the same time as the shell. This results in a smooth, balanced spin.

Trying to stop the egg from spinning is an excellent application of the principle of momentum . The raw egg keeps spinning after you touch it briefly because the liquid egg inside remains in motion, it's inertia is greater than that of the solid interior of the hardboiled egg. An object's momentum is its resistance to changing its state of motion; roughly "how hard it is to stop".

This is related to Newton's First Law of Motion : "An object in motion remains in motion, unless acted upon by an external force." Put more simply: if something is moving, it'll keep moving unless a force stops it. The friction between the table and egg will slow the egg and eventually stop the spinning. Though the liquid inside the egg keeps moving, it too slows down and stops because of the friction between the hard shell and the table.

Illustrate a practical application of Newton’s First Law of Motion.

Describe the principle of inertia.

Describe how an unstable centre of gravity affects balance.

Per Demo or Group: 1 raw egg 1 hard-boiled egg a table

Key Questions

• How can you tell which one is raw and which one is hard-boiled?
• What is happening inside the raw egg when it spins?
• What is happening inside the hard-boiled egg when it spins?
• Which one do you think will spin more smoothly?
• Why does the cooked egg spin better than the raw egg?
• Why does the raw egg keep spinning a bit after stopping it? Why doesn’t the cooked egg do the same thing?

Preparation

• Hard boil 1 egg and let it cool so that it is the same temperature as the raw egg.
• Show the class both eggs.
• Tell them that one is hard-boiled but you have forgotten which one. Invite suggestions as to how to tell the two apart.
• Set both eggs spinning on the table. The hard-boiled egg spins well whereas the raw egg wobbles.
• Set the eggs spinning again.
• As soon as the raw egg starts spinning, touch it briefly with your finger just long enough to stop it. When you take your finger away, the egg will continue to spin for just a quick second. Try the same thing with the hard-boiled egg, unlike the raw, it will just stop.
• How will a soft-boiled egg spin?
• Experiment with spinning plastic eggs (available near Easter time) filled with different solids or liquids.
• Check out how this relates to our sense of balance when we spin

Other Resources

Science World | YouTube| Inertia

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Newton’s Laws of Motion Explain Spinning Eggs

By Janice VanCleave

Newton’s First Law of Motion

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, is one of the most influential scientist who ever lived.

In Newton’s work, the  Principia was published on 5 July 1687, Newton stated what he believed to be the three universal laws of motion . It is said that these laws enabled many of the advances of the Industrial Revolution which soon followed. It was not Newton’s identification of the laws of motion that contributed to the development of machines, instead machines function because of the laws. In other words, things don’t move when you push on them because Newton’s second law of motion identifies the relation between force and motion. From the beginning of time, a force applied to an object caused the object to move. Newton identified and gave mathematical relations between force and motion.

Newton used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the force now called gravity . For more information about Newton’s Life and his scientific advancements, see Sir Isaac Netwon’s Life .

Newton’s Laws of Motion Explain the Spin Difference Between A Hard Boiled Egg and A Raw Egg

Newton’s First Law of Motion introduces the term inertia, which is a measure of how easy or how hard it is to move a stationary object. Assuming a boiled egg and raw egg have the same mass, the inertia of the two eggs would be the same if they are moved linearly , meaning in a straight line. But, the two eggs do not rotate or spin the same.

When rotated, the inertia of a boiled egg is less than that of a raw egg. This is because objects spin or rotate around their center of gravity , which is their balancing point. Boiled eggs are solid throughout, thus have a stationary center of gravity making them easier to spin than raw eggs. Raw eggs are solid on the outside and liquid inside. When rotated the center of gravity of the egg changes as the liquid moves around. This sloshing of liquid inside the egg shell makes it harder to spin the raw egg. Raw eggs wobble when spun.

Test the Spinning of Boiled and Raw Eggs

Place a boiled and raw egg on a table. Spin both eggs.

What Happened?

As expected, the boiled egg was easier to spin. It spun faster and longer than the raw egg. This is because the inside of the boiled egg was solid, so the shell and content spun as one solid mass. The liquid inside the raw egg was more difficult to spin because the liquid did not move with the shell.

More to Discover 

What do you think will happen if you spin the boiled and raw eggs, and stop them by touching each egg briefly with your finger?

Hypothesis:   If the boiled egg’s content moves with the shell and the raw egg’s shell and content do not move together, then touching the eggs will ———————-(What do you think will happen and why?)

Test each egg one at a time. Spin each egg, then gently touch the egg to stop its motion. Observe each egg after it stops for a few seconds.

Both eggs stop spinning, but the raw egg starts to spin again.

The content of the boiled egg moved with its outer shell. Thus, when the shell was stopped the egg stopped. The content of the raw egg continued to spin after its shell was stopped. In a short time the motion of the spinning liquid inside the shell caused the shell to start spinning.

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Easy Inertia Experiment

May 29, 2020 By Emma Vanstone Leave a Comment

This inertia experiment is super easy and a great fun science trick for kids and adults!

If you want to learn more about Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion or forces in general I’ve got lots more forces and motion experiments you can try!

What is inertia?

Isaac Newton’s First Law states that an object stays still or keeps moving at the same speed and in a straight line unless it is acted upon by a force.

In simple terms that means if an object isn’t moving ( imagine a book on the floor ) it won’t start to move unless a force makes it move ( for example, if you push the book ).

Isaac Newton’s First Law is known as the Law of Inertia .

You’ll need:

Card folded into a triangle column and taped securely.

Piece of card – A5 size

Small object that is big enough to sit on top of the column.

Inertia Experiment Instructions

Place the A5 sheet of card on top of the pint glass.

Carefully put the triangular column on the card.

Balance the lemon on top of the column, it needs to be directly above the glass.

Hold the glass with one hand and then quickly pull the A5 card with the other hand.

The lemon should drop into the glass!

Why does this work?

The lemon is heavier than the cardboard column which means it doesn’t move as easily as the column when the cardboard is pulled from underneath.

There isn’t a sideways force acting on the lemon so it falls straight down because of gravity.

Newton’s First Law states that an object at rest remains at rest unless acted on by a force.

More Forces Experiments for Kids

Design, build and launch a water powered bottle rocket !

Learn about potential energy with a cotton reel car or make a balloon powered car .

Learn more about Newton’s Laws of Motion and how they apply to space travel in my book, This IS Rocket Science!

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Last Updated on May 29, 2020 by Emma Vanstone

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Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

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