Science - Let's Investigate!

Last week we were set a challenge by Humpty Dumpty who said "Can you help me? My name is Humpty Dumpty and I keep having accidents falling off the wall and hurting myself. Can you work out which material would make the best jacket to help keep me safe so that I don't crack my shell if I fall again?" We made our predictions about which material would make the best protective coat to help stop Humpty Dumpty from cracking his shell; now we need to test the materials and observe and compare them to see which material is the best.

You will need an egg for each material you are testing - your Mums and Dads may wish to hard boil the eggs before hand to reduce the mess.

Wrap each egg up carefully in the material - you may want some sellotape to help the material stay wrapped around the egg. 

Put a tray underneath a table - this could be a baking tray, cake tin or something you don't mind getting a little bit mucky if the egg does crack when it lands in the tray.  You will gently push/ roll each egg off the table top so that it lands in the tray. By rolling/ pushing the egg off the same table top you are ensuring that they all fall from the same height and with the same amount of force acting on it.

Remember to use your observations skills - what can you see? How much damage was done to the egg shell? You may wish to take photos to help you compare the different eggs and their wrappings.

Now record the results - colouring the number of cracked eggs on the sheet for each material to show how much the egg cracked. One cracked egg means very little damage; 5 cracked eggs means lots of damage to the egg.

Finally write your conclusion - this means what you have learnt and discovered. Which was the best material? Why? Was it the material you predicted?