eggs & the law of gravity
My kids are in a homeschool co-op like thing…it isn’t really a co-op, but I don’t know how to describe it. Anyway, we meet once a week and the kids give a presentation each week. This was the third week of presentations that involved demonstrating things. 4 kids x 3 weeks = 12 demonstrative presentations. FireCracker has demonstrated how to brush her doll’s hair, how to make a lego plane, how to color a rainbow and I forgot the other one. The boys have done a variety of stuff too.
We were out of ideas this week.
The oldest two boys did a little law of gravity presentation. My 5 year old son demonstrated how to make a sandwich ~ so I didn’t have to pack his lunch. Genius idea he copied and I let him.
So the egg thing is a simple idea and very easy to do. Use a cup of water as the base, next top with a flat plate/tray, then a toilet paper roll, then an egg. We used raw because it was more exciting to the boys. Make sure the tube is lined up over the center of the cup. Give the tray a swift hit. Motion is transferred to the plate, inertia comes into play, the egg ‘freezes’ in the air then falls into the cup.
My oldest son used two cups and two eggs at the same time for his presentation. It was kind of awesome.
The chickens gathered around wondering what we were doing with their eggs. Not their babies…we don’t have a rooster so the eggs aren’t fertilized and can never turn into chickens. Did you know that? Crazy….
He wants to do this egg ‘trick’ all the time. When he asked to do it this time I told him ‘yes’, if he would let me photograph him. Bribed him. No matter how hard I tried though, I couldn’t get a normal smile from him. These are more him anyway.
Photo Tip: Outside we had great overhead clouds blocking the sun. The clouds were a big reason I wanted to get some pictures of him (or any of my kids that would agree to it!). These shots were all taken with my 50mm lens at ISO 100, 1/1250, and f/2.8 when the clouds were blocking the sun. However, when the sun peeked out from the clouds the lighting completely changed. My settings for the shot below (right) were ISO 100, 1/4000, f/2.8. These were taken in the middle of the afternoon, so without the clouds the light was really harsh. When you have great clouds covering the sun, but its still bright light outside – it is a good time to take advantage of the light without worrying about shadows. I love bright cloudy days!
