Gravity (Egg) investigation

*First read a book- "Why Can't I Jump Very High", "Gravity's a Mystery", "I Fall Down"

Focus Question: Why do we come back down to the ground when we jump in the air? How does Gravity work on an object?

Prediction/Hypothesis: I think using the cotton balls, sponges and felt to wrap the egg will keep it from breaking because they will act as a cushion on impact.

Planning: Hard boiled eggs, string, felt, cotton balls, aluminum foil, pieces of sponge, paper plates, hole puncher, scissors
*Our group used 2 pieces of sponge, 2 pipe cleaners, 3 pieces of felt, 1 paper plate, 2 cotton balls, 3 pieces of string.

Data:

What We Tried	What Happened
Support cushion, parachute	Egg cracked, although it slowed down the fall
Equal support with sponges, cotton balls, felt and aluminum foil around the egg	Egg cracked
Resistance with paper plate used as a shield	Eggs cracked, didn't resist air well

Claims & Evidence: After much trial and error, we decided that if you could slow the egg's fall then it wouldn't crack. The parachute is what we used to help slow the egg down.

Conclusion: In this investigation we learned that the egg needed to be slowed down while falling to keep from breaking. We achieved this by building a parachute to slow its fall.

Questions: Do real life parachutes work in the same way? Does gravity pull on parachutes?