Exploring Newton's First Law with Easter Eggs

Have you ever seen someone flick a tablecloth out from under plates that stay in place? The plates stay in place because of a concept called inertia.

A slightly easier way to demonstrate inertia is by dropping an Easter egg ( or other object ) into a container.

We usually do this science demonstration with an orange or lemon. This chocolate egg variation is just for fun.

large glass with a sheet of card over the top and an Easter egg on top of a cardstock column

Easter Egg Inertia Challenge

You’ll need

A piece of card ( cardstock )

Cardboard tube

Pint glass

Easter eggs

Instructions

Place the card on top of the glass and the cardboard tube on top of the card.

The cardboard tube should be in line with the centre of the glass.

Carefully place a chocolate egg on top of the tube.

Quickly pull the card back. The egg should drop into the glass.

Why does this work?

The chocolate eggs are heavier than the cardboard tube, so they don’t move as easily and fall straight down. This is called inertia. Inertia is how hard it is for a force to move an object. The column has low inertia, and the egg has high inertia.

There’s no sideways force acting on the egg, so it falls straight down because of gravity.

Newton’s First Law states that an object remains at rest unless acted on by a force.

Chocolate Egg Drop – Inertia Demonstration