🚀 go-pugleaf

Dropping an egg so as not to break it is in fact a good demonstration of
Newton's Second Law.  Recall

   F = m a
but a = dv/dt, i.e. the change in velocity divided by the time this
                    change in velocity takes place in

In dropping an egg from some height, we have the mass of the egg remaining
constant and the change in velocity remaining constant.  (The ending
velocity is zero, and the "beginning" velocity is the velocity of the
egg just before it hits the floor.)  Whether we drop a "naked" egg or one
enclosed in some cushioning material, these quantities are constant when
an egg is dropped from a given height repeatedly.

So to reduce the force on the egg, and therefore hopefully to keep it intact,
we have only one quantity we can adjust.  Only the time over which the
egg goes from its "beginning" velocity to zero.  The longer we can make
this time, the less force the egg will experience.

Any viscous fluid (e.g. oil, mud) will make this time longer.  So will
suspending the egg with rubber bands (somewhat similar to the use of
seatbelts in a car) or surrounding it with styrofoam beads.  Whether the
egg breaks or not depends on how well these materials do the job of giving
the egg a long time before coming to rest.

(I have placed a raw egg in a plastic bag filled with the expanded mica
used to pack chemicals when shipped and have kicked it like a football,
and the egg survived.)

Hope this helps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Richard L. Bowman
    Dept. of Physics, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA  22812
    <rbowman@bridgewater.edu>                     703-828-5441
-----------------------------------------------------------------------