Friday, February 13, 2009

The Great Egg Drop

While many college students are out having "a good time" on Thursday night, my friends and I from church have our own version of fun. Last night our HOOT (Hanging Out On Thursdays) activity was guys versus girls game night. We started off with some trivia games followed by four men on a couch. To finish off the night, we had The Great Egg Drop. Each team was given a package of bendy straws, a roll of tape, and five Exponents to build protection to keep our two eggs from breaking when dropped from a certain height.

Everyone got to work right away. We started putting the straws together in squares to make a cube for one of our eggs. We made two cubes and put newspaper on one side of each cube. The egg was then put between the newspaper on the cubes and taped in there. As long as it hit on one of the ends, this egg should be safe.

Our other idea was to wrap the egg in newspaper. If it was loose enough to make a cushion, it should absorb some of the impact of the fall. We also taped a bunch of straws to the newspaper hoping this would help. It may have looked like a mess, but looks didn't matter. We just wanted to protect our little egg.

The guys had their own ideas. They made a bigger cube than we did and filled it with newspaper with the egg in the middle. Then they wrapped the cube in newspaper to keep the egg from falling out. Their other design also had the egg in the center but this time with no cube. Then straws were taped pointing in two directions around the outside. The ends were then bent down to make "feet" to support the structure when it hit the ground.

Now it was time to test them. We all went outside to see them dropped out of the second story window. To our surprised none of the eggs were eliminated. We needed something bigger. Where could we go? We ended going down the street to the University Parking Garage. Surely this would do the trick.

We handed over our eggs, and they were taken to the top. Which eggs would survive? We got there just as an exam was getting done, so people were looking around trying to figure out what we were doing. Some of them even stopped just to watch. Once the sidewalk was clear, it was time for the drop. One by one they fell. Sadly, both of our eggs broke, and neither of the guys' did. If only they would have landed the way we expected, they would have been okay. Oh well. We had fun anyway.

I encourage you to go out and have some real fun with your friends. Think up some new ideas. Be creative. Have a good time that you will remember the next day. I know these activities are usually the highlight of my week. I can't wait to see what we will do next!

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