Newton’s law of gravity got quite a workout last week in the Clear Lake Elementary parking lot as eggs were dropped off the back of the Oxford Fire Department’s aerial platform truck.
But it wasn’t some David Letterman-type stunt or a Devil’s Night prank.
It was all part of the ‘Dads Night Out? event in which parents and kids spent some quality time building contraptions designed to cushion the blow when their fragile eggs hit the hard asphalt.
‘It gives dads and kids a fun night out together,? said Clear Lake parent Dave Wells, who’s helped organize the annual event for the last four years.
The 175 kids and parents who attended were each given a kit that consisted of a sheet of bubble wrap, a styrofoam cup, four cotton balls, two plastic spoons, a brown paper bag, three pom poms, foam sheet, three straws, two pipe cleaners, four cotton swabs, five popsicle sticks, three paper clips, five rubber bands and a sheet of felt.
‘Everybody gets a kit with the same supplies,? Wells said.
After munching on some pizza to fuel their brains, the participants used the eclectic group of materials to construct devices ranging from simple to elaborate to downright weird, all in the hopes of keeping their eggs from getting scrambled.
‘They can only use what’s in their kit, but they don’t have to use everything,? Wells said. ‘You can make anything you want, except a parachute.?
Parachutes were outlawed last year because it was quickly discovered that ‘you could throw an egg out of an airplane with a well-constructed parachute and it will survive,? Wells explained.
Some gave their containers wings. Some tried a hot air balloon approach. Others attempted to use plastic spoons as shock absorbers.
Once the devices were completed, they were taken outside and given to Oxford firefighter Jeff Siarto who dropped them, one at a time, off the back of the aerial platform.
‘We start at 15 feet (in the air) and go as high as needed,? Wells said.
Most of the eggs went splat during the first round, but the ones that survived advanced to the second drop from a higher point and so on and so forth.
‘We keep going until nobody’s left or we’ve gone as high as we can,? Wells said.
The following Clear Lake students? eggs survived the maximum 100-foot drop at last week’s event ? Alex Mazurek, Laura Mace, Trenton Brown, Robert Large, Steven Patterson and Kara Lange.