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how does Styrofoam cups help in egg drop experiment?
any scientific explanations on how it helps
?
First think about energy:
Just before you drop the egg, it has gravitational potential energy [E = mgh] due to its height.
When you drop the egg, that energy is converted into kinetic energy as the egg falls.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, so it has to go somewhere when the egg hits the floor.
If you just drop the egg without any protection, the energy is transformed into heat energy by smashing up the shell and making the contents go SPLAT.
It would be better if that energy was converted into heat by crumpling up something else instead of the egg!
Now think about the kinematics of it. Just before it touches the floor, the egg is going at its maximum speed as a result of the acceleration due to gravity. It needs to be brought to rest quite quickly. Think about the motion during the time that the egg is slowing down.
Have you met an equation like this?
v² = u² + 2as
where
v = final velocity [=0]
u = initial velocity
a = acceleration
s = [stopping] distance
With an unprotected egg, the stopping distance is what, A fraction of the thickness of an eggshell?
Very small anyway. That means that the deceleration of the egg would need to be HUGE.
We know from Newton's second Law the force = mass * acceleration, so if the acceleration was HUGE, the force acting on the egg would also be HUGE and the egg shell would never withstand the pressure. You need to do something to increase the stopping distance of the egg, so the forces acting on it are much more reasonable. Something that will crumple up in front of the egg and bring it to a more gentle stop.
We also know that pressure = force / area, so it would reduce the pressure on the egg shell if there was something that would reduce the pressure on the shell due to the stopping force by spreading that force over as great an area of shell as possible, rather that applying it just at one small point.
I hope that that gives you a few ideas.