Drop the Egg into a Glass of Water

The Egg Drop is a classic experiment that illustrates Newton’s First Law of Motion and inertia. The goal is to get the egg into the glass of water. Sound easy?
Now perch the egg atop a cardboard tube sitting in a pie pan on top of the glass of water. Sound harder? It’s easier than you think – hit the pie pan with your hand, setting it in motion. As it zips out of the way, the lip catches the cardboard tube and takes it with. The egg is not moving, it is stationary. The support comes out from under the egg so for a brief nanosecond the egg does not move, until gravity takes over and pulls it down into the glass.

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