AP Physics Project:
Physics - Shoes
What is the difference between Force and Pressure? You are asked to design
shoes to achieve minimum pressure on the eggs that you will walk on. Hint:
Once it was even reported in the ABC news. Summer, 1996)
Material:
•12 dozens eggs.
•Several large plastic sheets to lie on the ground under the cartons of eggs.
•A bathroom scale.
•Rags or mops and water bucket for clean up afterwards.
Shoes for Walking on Eggs:
Rules: Design shoes so that you can step on an open carton of 12 eggs.
Rules: You or your shoes must touch the eggs. You may not build a bridge-like
shoe to step over the eggs. You need to do at least 5 steps on five cartons.
The points are counted weight per unit projected area. For instance, if you
carry you own weight of 500 Newton’s (this means you weigh about 50 kg.) and
your shoe area is 25cm by15cm (0.0375 square meters), the pressure is 13.3
KPascal and you will earn 13.3 points. Hint: Consider you and your classmate
are the eggs in the cartons, what kind of pressure are you experiencing when
someone is trying to walk on your heads!
Credits:
•10 points for participation.
•10 points for not breaking any eggs using your own weight.
•Earn points as calculated above. You may earn more points by carrying extra
weight for the given shoe area.
Winners:
•The most points from the above calculation.
•The most creative design.
•The most practical design.