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The student news site of McKinney High School

Manestream News

The student news site of McKinney High School

Manestream News

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Eggs-periment: annual Raytheon project begins

With physics students’ grade on the line, containers filled with bubble wrap, sponges, and even peanut butter had to keep one egg from cracking during a 20 meter drop during the Raytheon Egg Drop experiment testing on October 18 and 22.

The egg drop experiment was conducted in all physics classes and was part of Raytheon’s Leadership And Science Ensures Results (LASER) program. The LASER program provides students with a project-based learning experience that is both fun and educational.

“It was really neat when the Raytheon professionals came to my physics class,” junior Margaux Bartzen said. “They wanted to inspire us in new ways, like with the egg project.”

Every team had a manager, planner, engineer lead, and finance lead. These roles were created to teach students participation, communication and cooperation.

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“I was the planner in my group, so I was in charge of figuring out when we would meet and how we would put the project together,” junior Halle Powell said. “It was kind of hard finding days that everyone could get together to do the project.”

The containers could not exceed one kilogram and had maximum dimensions of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm. As long as those restrictions were met, the rest was left to the students.

“We just put the egg in a pillow and wrapped the pillow in duct tape,” junior Makenzie McHughes said. “It was really easy, and only took like seven minutes to make.”

The egg had to survive a fall of about 20 meters, the height of the A-hall balcony.

“The height of the drop was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be,” junior Eric Hallstrom said. “ I wasn’t that worried about it.”

Grades were based on the mass and speed of the container. Groups with a high speed and a low mass received a higher grade. The most important factor, however, was whether or not the egg survived.

“We put our egg in Jell-O, but sadly the egg cracked,” junior Logan Miller said. “ Since the egg broke, our grade got lowered.”

The egg drop winners were Johny Vega, Christian Aburto, and Edgar Ramirez.

“Our project was three towels in a bag,” junior Christian Aburto said. “We worked hard, but we were just aiming to get a 70 or above.”

The next Raytheon LASER project will be conducted on Nov. 8 and will involve designing a device to retrieve an egg from the middle of a 4.25-meter radius circle.

“ I really liked doing the egg drop and how we were able to get out of the classroom and apply what we had been learning,” Halle said. “The next project seems kind of hard, but I’m excited.”

by Amelia Kinsinger

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