Only one egg was cracked in the Newtown Continuing Education Young Engineers Workshop’s egg drop experiment on August 1.

The Young Engineers Workshop challenged the 11 students in this year’s camp to work on a range of projects, including designing contraptions that could hold an egg and prevent it from cracking when dropped. Newtown Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 Chief Engineer Michael Aurelia and First Lieutenant Dave White assisted the experiment by extending the ladder of a ladder truck to individually drop the contraptions on August 1. Young Engineers instructor Rick Lowry oversaw the experiment with students in the program, which ran July 22 to August 2.

To make the egg drop creations, students used items like cardboard, balloons, bubble wrap, foam, and tape.

The Young Engineers cradled their creations close mid-morning on August 1 as Newtown Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 members readied the extended ladder behind Reed Intermediate School. A quick assessment of expectations revealed the campers were half expecting their eggs to crack when dropped from the ladder’s height.

Dion Vinca, 9, was the first to have his design tested. Mr White dropped it from the ladder, and Mr Lowry and Dion collected the creation to check the egg within it.

“It survived!” Dion ecstatically said.

When Zach Avari’s, 11, contraption dropped next a loud “thwack” was heard. Someone in the crowd of on lookers that had assembled said, “Oh snap!” Mr Lowry and Zach worked together to open the design and revealed that Zach’s egg had also survived, despite the resound slap on the pavement.

Out of the 11 contraptions dropped, only one egg cracked.