Eggs are Strong
Next time someone’s cooking with eggs around your house, save the eggshells so that you could astound your friends with this incredible stunt.
Things you’ll need: 4 raw eggs, a small pair of scissors, masking tape, some books.
- To crack the eggs and get four empty eggshells, gently break open the small end of each egg by tapping it on a table or counter.
- Carfully peel away some of the eggshell.
- Pour out the egg inside.
- Put a piece of masking tape around the middle of each eggshell.
- Put the eggshells on a table, open end down, in a rectangle that’s just a smaller than one of your books.
- Lay a book on the eggshells. Do any of the shells crack?
- Keep adding books until – CRRACKK! How many books you can stack on the eggs? Weigh the books and see how many kg or lb it took the break the eggs. Mine is 3.8 kilograms!
Each half pf the eggshell is a miniature dome, and domes are one of the strongest shapes. Why? Weight on the top of the dome is carried down along the curved walls to the wide base. No single point on the dome supports the whole weight of the object on the top of it. That is why domes are often used for big buildings that can’t have pillar supports, such as hocky rinks and arenas.
Staff at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto have shown that a single egg can support a 90 kg (200 lb) person.
Danupon Drake 