Rolling Eggs Experiment

Eggs are not just for eating. Here at Science Sparks, we've got lots of fun and easy egg-themed activities for you to try. Including a bit of science magic, investigating why eggs are so strong and even shrinking eggs.

Another fun egg activity is rolling eggs, which kept my children occupied for hours. We simply timed eggs rolling down our slide, then wrapped them in different materials to see if that affected their speed.

Younger children will just enjoy rolling the eggs, but older children can spend time planning the experiment, considering which factors to keep constant and how to display their results.

Rolling Eggs STEM Challenge

You'll need

Egg – hard boiled might be safest
Timer/Stop Watch
Materials to wrap around the egg - bubble wrap, kitchen roll, velcro
Ramp/Slide

Egg rolling table ton record the time taken to roll eggs down a ramp

Instructions

Decide on two markers on your ramp, which you will time the distance to travel between.
Place an unwrapped egg at the top marker and let the egg roll down the ramp, recording the time taken to reach the second marker.
Repeat 3 times.
Wrap bubble wrap around your egg and repeat steps 2 and 3
Wrap kitchen roll around your egg and repeat steps 2 and 3
Calculate the average speed for each egg and design a table to show your results.

Can you think of any more materials to try?

Rolling Eggs Worksheet and Results Table

Rolling Eggs Challenge Worksheet

Rolling eggs STEM challenge instructions

Things to think about

Use the same egg for each condition, as different eggs may vary in weight.

What do you think slows down or speeds up the egg? Does friction play a part?

Did any of the eggs break? Which material protected the egg the best?

Could you improve the experiment with a longer ramp?

Results

We found the egg wrapped in bubble wrap was the slowest, but also the most protected; it was the only egg to remain completely intact.

The time differences between the eggs are very small, and possibly more down to our inaccurate timing than anything else.

For even more fun with eggs, try one of these great egg experiments.

Collection of images from an egg rolling experiment.

This post is part of the A-Z STEM Series. Every day during the month of January we will be bringing you exciting, science, technology, engineering, and math activities to do with your kids! By the end of the month you'll have over 50 STEM activities to keep your kids busy learning. How fab is that?