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Students in Mr. Saltz’s Honors Physics class participated in a high-stakes engineering challenge Friday, May 1, in Carter Hall. As part of their project, students designed and constructed protective containers made entirely from playing cards with one important goal: to safely protect an egg during a series of increasingly difficult drops.

To test the effectiveness of their designs, students dropped their containers from three different heights. A successful drop from tabletop height earned a C, surviving a drop while standing on a bench earned a B, and eggs that remained intact after the ultimate test — a drop down the stairwell from the Commons level to the bottom floor of Carter Hall — earned an A.

The challenge pushed students to apply principles of physics, engineering, and structural design as they experimented with balance, force distribution, impact absorption, and durability. With limited materials and escalating levels of difficulty, students had to think creatively and strategically to design a structure capable of protecting their egg from impact.

The activity combined hands-on learning with problem solving and experimentation, giving students the opportunity to put scientific concepts into action through an engaging real-world physics challenge.