The Egghead Experiment<\/p>\n Every year, the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering carries out an egg-dropping experiment with students. It\u2019s simple but effective. \u201cWe follow the scientific literature and talk to the students about how to position the egg to avoid breakage on impact,\u201d Cohen says.<\/p>\n Her team didn\u2019t start out with the goal of rewriting physics folklore, it just happened gradually.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout three years ago, we started to question whether vertical really is stronger,\u201d she said. After years of advising students in the egg drop<\/a> challenge, Cohen and her colleagues decided to run a few quick lab tests using leftover eggs. The results were confusing. So they dived deeper \u2014 ultimately dropping 180 eggs and crushing 60 more in carefully calibrated tests.<\/p>\n The researchers conducted two types of experiments: static and dynamic. In static tests, the researchers slowly pressed down on eggs placed vertically or horizontally using a mechanical testing machine. Surprisingly, the force needed to crack the eggs vertically and horizontally was almost the same \u2014 around 45 newtons. But one key difference emerged: eggs lying on their sides compressed more before breaking.<\/p>\n That difference matters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe horizontal egg compressed more under the same amount of force, meaning it was more compliant,\u201d said Joseph Bonavia, a Ph.D. student and co-author on the paper. \u201cIf you are falling from a height, you don\u2019t want to lock your knees. You\u2019ll break your bones. You want to bend your knees \u2014 that\u2019s what the egg is doing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n In engineering terms, the eggshell is stiffer when it\u2019s vertical. But stiffness isn\u2019t toughness. It\u2019s the tougher structure \u2014 the one that can bend and absorb energy \u2014 that survives a fall.<\/p>\n Sideways Wins the Drop<\/p>\n The dynamic drop tests were more realistic; you\u2019re more likely to drop an egg on something than push and compress it. They released eggs using a custom-built solenoid device from three short heights: 8, 9, and 10 millimeters. Even from such tiny drops, patterns emerged. Horizontally dropped eggs were more likely to survive.<\/p>\n Simulations confirmed it. The egg\u2019s equator allowed more time to absorb impact \u2014 and less cracking.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though both orientations experienced similar peak forces, the horizontal eggs absorbed energy better and were more resistant to breaking,\u201d said Avishai Jeselsohn, an undergraduate researcher and co-author.<\/p>\n Eggs cracked differently too. Horizontal eggs split cleanly around their middle \u2014 the way we crack them while cooking. Vertical drops tended to cave in from the blunt end, creating spiral fractures.<\/p>\n And yes, the team had to buy their eggs in bulk. Cohen and her team picked up more than 200 eggs from Costco. None were eaten after testing. But her dog enjoyed a few uncracked leftovers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Stiffness Isn\u2019t Strength<\/p>\n So why has the vertical myth persisted for so long?<\/p>\n In part, it comes from confusing strength with stiffness. In architecture, arches are stronger under vertical load \u2014 a comparison often drawn with eggs. That analogy may hold for static pressure, but it breaks under real-world impact. An egg\u2019s ability to survive a fall depends less on how stiff it is and more on how much energy it can absorb without cracking.<\/p>\n \u201cCracking an egg for cooking involves applying locally focused force for a clean break to retrieve the yolk, while its resistance to breaking from a drop involves distributing and absorbing energy across the shell,\u201d Brendan Unikewicz, another graduate student and study co-author, told Smithsonian Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ba486d6f5f07267f374a48dbd9b4457a1bc038a3.webp.webp\")
<\/a>The researchers conducted\u00a0static compression tests to measure the force needed to break the eggs<\/a> in different positions.\u00a0Credit: MIT<\/p>\n