• Question: if you stand on a egg the right way you cant break but if you stand on it a milometer of it will break why is that? thannkyou

    Asked by 1luckyegg to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      this is due to the shape of the egg, it can take a considerable amount of force applied to the pointed end as it is dome shaped. If you take a look at lots of bridge supports and church roofs they are often dome shaped as this shape is very good at distributing forces evenly over its entire surface area

      if you create a slight imbalance of forces however, the egg is unable to distribute them evenly, and breaks, which is why you can stand on eggs, but only very carefully!

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Did you know that the shape of an egg (called an ovoid/oval), is actually very common in all of nature because it is so strong at the tips? The outer shells of some viruses have this shape and the some of the units within cells have this shape too.

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Simon’s bridge analogy is a good one! Arch-like shapes spread forces out evenly rather than concentrating them. That’s why it’s hard to break an egg at the pointed end. Of course, you can concentrate the force yourself using a sharp object, which will punch through the shell.

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