WATSONVILLE—Cecilia Gonzalez spent a day hollowing out a piece of plastic foam, creating a perfect spot in which to cradle an egg. She wrapped this in cardboard and topped her invention with several balloons.
The test came on Wednesday, when it was dropped off the Watsonville Civic Plaza, falling 60 feet onto the ground. And her egg? It survived the fall.
Cecilia is part of the Watsonville Environmental Science Workshop. Her invention was one of more than 100 contraptions that were entered in the 17th annual egg drop contest, which is part of a celebration of National Engineers Week.
The event was open to the public. It drew kids from schools across Watsonville, as well as a handful of adults.
There were few rules governing entries. The egg-protecting contraptions had to fit through a 14-inch hoop, and no hard plastic or metal could be used. And most importantly, it had to protect a raw egg from breaking during the fall.
The challenge is based on the very real-world engineering problem of landing a probe on the surface of the moon and on planets such as Mars.
The activity is a way to get young people excited about the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the group of disciplines known collectively as STEM.
“Ideally, it will inspire these young people to become engineers,” said Environmental Science Workshop Coordinator Darren Gertler.
Azailee Espinoza said her victorious drop came thanks to the plastic bucket she used to cradle her egg.
“And I put a lot of stuff in the bottom, and used a lot of tape,” she said.
And on the bottom of the bucket, which was cracked to pieces by the drop, Azailee had written the words, “I’m gonna win.”
