Rocketry Class Puts Newton's Laws to Practice

Fifth and sixth graders in Mrs. Steck’s Rocketry class have been learning about Newton’s Laws this semester. In their most recent lesson on parachutes, students discussed why it works and the history behind it. They then put the theory to practice by creating an egg drop parachute using only natural materials (with the exception of tape and glue).

Through this project, students learned about air resistance versus the downward force of gravity, and how an upward net force on a falling object will cause it to slow down. The goal was to design an egg drop parachute that was strong enough to protect the raw egg inside the carrier once launched from a distance, while also creating a parachute that would slow the downward force of gravity. All of the students were successful and their eggs were spared!