What Types of Materials Best Protect Eggs?
Have you ever dropped an egg? If you have, did you wonder why the egg cracked? Do you know what forces caused the egg to crack? Did you wonder if you could find a material that can protect eggs from cracking? If you have, then this is the paper for you.
There are many types of eggs, but the most common are the duck, goose, and chicken. Seabird, such as duck and geese, are considered wading birds. Wading birds lay more eggs than regular seabirds, so their eggs come in larger clutches. Chicken eggs also come in large clutches. Although the eggs they lay have shells that are very light, they are also incredibly strong. (Burke, 2008)
When you drop an egg, the density and volume of the egg interacts with the force that cracks the egg. Density is the mass of the object divided by its volume. For example, a container of feathers is lighter than the same container of bricks. Volume is the amount of space something takes up. The force is either a push or a pull on an object. It can make an object travel faster or go in a different direction. If you ever drop an egg and it cracks, it might be the density and volume combining with the force to cause it crack. (Zeman, Kelly, 2005)
Some materials that we recommend are styrofoam, bubble wrap, cardboard, polyester, and newspaper. You might recognize styrofoam in packaging peanuts which keeps the contents in a package from damaging because of the amount of air in the structure. (Alber, 1999) Bubble wrap is also a packaging material that protects the contents with bubbles of air. (Romano, 2003) Corrugated cardboard is strong because it is the binding of two sheets of cardstock and a corrugated design in the middle. (Tatum, 2003) Although newspapers are thin, it can cushion the egg from cracking. (Unknown, 2011) Also, polyester is a good material because it is extremely strong, durable, and it is soft enough to cushion the impact on the egg. (Jezek, 2006) These materials best...