For years we believed it: the egg breaks less if we drop it vertically, with the most pointed end facing down. A “truth” repeated in thousands of schools, in physics laboratories and online didactic videos. Yet today, a study conducted by Mit completely dismantles this belief. The research team led by Tal Cohenprofessor of mechanical and civil engineering, has shown that it is the egg positioned horizontally to be more resistant to impact.
The famous experiment of the Egg Drop Challengealways considered an educational exercise among the most loved, thus turns into a real opportunity to question what we take for granted. The aim of the test is simple: to drop an egg from a certain height and find a way to prevent the breakdown. But if we are wrong the orientation of the egg, we could frustrate all the design efforts.
The first step of the team was to question the old theory, as Cohen tells:
About three years ago we started asking ourselves if the vertical orientation really was the safest.
From a simple curiosity born during the exercises with the students, there was a rigorous scientific work, published in the magazine Communications Physicswhich involved Over 240 eggs, 180 fall And 60 crushed in the laboratory.
During the static tests, the eggs were subjected to growing pressure thanks to a mechanical machine. Whether they were vertically or horizontally, they broke with an average force of about 45 Newton. But there was a detail that made the difference: The horizontal eggs deformed more before breaking. A greater elasticity that, in engineering terms, corresponds to a greater ability to absorb energy.
Joseph BonaviaPhD student and co -author of the study, explains with an effective metaphor:
When you fall, you don’t have to stiffen. If you block your knees, break your bones. You have to bend them, cushion. Here, the horizontal egg does this.
Dynamic tests simulate reality
To make the experiment more realistic, the researchers designed a sunshine device to release eggs from minimal heights – 8, 9 and 10 millimeters – but check. Even with these small jumps, the differences have become evident: The eggs drop horizontally were many more likely to remain intact compared to those in a vertical position.
And the images speak clearly. The horizontal eggs broke along the equator, with a clear and central fracture – just like when we break an egg for cooking. The vertical ones, on the other hand, tended to yield from the base, creating much more irregular spiral cracks.
Second Avishai Jeselsohnstudent and co -author, is all a matter of time and distribution:
The egg equator allows you to better absorb the impact. Although the forces are similar, the horizontal egg has more surface and more time to dissipate energy.
The confirmation also came from computer simulations. And for those who ask: None of the eggs used has been eateneven if Professor Cohen’s dog has enjoyed some surplus.
Because the flexible egg wins on vertical rigidity
But why did this wrong conviction resisted so long? Many engineers and teachers have continued to believe that the egg is more “stronger” if positioned vertically, because its profile recalls an arch – and in architecture the arches hold well under vertical load. But rigid does not mean resistant. And the study of Mit proves it clearly.
Brendan Unikewiczanother co -author, underlined the key difference:
When I break an egg to cook, apply concentrated force. But a fall is another story: there it is essential to distribute and absorb the energy over the entire surface of the shell.
With irony, the team opened its article with a reference to Lillipuziani by Gulliverwho fought on which ends of the egg was the most correct to break. A surreal dispute that, however, resembles, unfortunately, to many academic rigidity still present in science, as observed by David TaylorProfessor at Trinity College in Dublin.
It is nice to see a scientific dogma questioned with method and rigor. This type of study is fundamental, although it is often difficult to obtain funding to deny consolidated theories.
The hope, says Cohen, is that the work serves to teach a more open and curious approach to science. “We want students to learn to question what seems obviousalways questioning why things. Even when it comes to a simple egg. “
