Crash Test: An Engineering Challenge!
By Lori Altenbaumer, 7th/8th Math & Science
What happens when you combine Newton’s Laws of Motion, a little creativity, some everyday household materials, and an egg? You get an exciting engineering challenge that puts science to the ultimate test!
As part of our Motion and Force unit, our 8th grade Integrated Physics and Chemistry (IPC) students took on the Car Crash Engineering Challenge! Their mission was to design, build, test, and improve a model car that could travel down a ramp, collide with a brick wall, and most importantly, protect its very fragile passenger—an egg!
Students began by researching real-world vehicle safety features and exploring how engineers design cars to reduce the forces experienced by passengers during collisions. Using their research, they sketched their initial designs and selected materials to construct their vehicles entirely from scratch. Each car was required to include five safety features, including a windshield, driver’s seat, safety restraint, and two additional features of their choosing.
Of course, engineering rarely goes perfectly on the first attempt! Students had to work within specific size and material constraints while testing their designs, identifying weaknesses, making adjustments, and testing again. This process of trial and error allowed them to experience firsthand what real engineers do when developing and improving their designs.
Then came Evaluation Day! Each car was put through three official tests:
Restraint Test: Could the egg driver be safely secured in its seat in under 10 seconds?
Roll Test: Could the car successfully travel down a 3-meter ramp without stopping or flipping?
Crash Test: Could the car withstand a collision with a brick wall without flipping, cracking its egg passenger, or ejecting the egg from its seat?
The crash test was certainly the most anticipated part of the challenge! After all, the ultimate question was whether their carefully engineered safety features would be enough to protect their egg during impact.
But the learning didn’t stop with the crash! Students also collected measurements and data to calculate their cars’ velocity, acceleration, force, and momentum. They then reflected on their designs and connected their observations to Newton’s Three Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Momentum. Concepts that had previously been explored through notes, practice problems, and classroom discussions suddenly became much more meaningful when students could see them in action!
This challenge was about much more than building a car or keeping an egg from cracking. It was about applying scientific knowledge to solve a real-world problem, thinking critically, persevering through setbacks, and understanding that even an unsuccessful test can provide valuable information for improvement.
Take a look at the videos below to see our 8th graders’ creations in action on Evaluation Day! Will their egg passengers survive the crash? Watch to find out!
What a fun way to bring physics and engineering to life in our IPC classroom!