Have you ever wondered how high an egg would have to be dropped for it to burn up before it hit the ground? Whizz Pop Bang reader, Amelie, aged 10, wrote to us recently to ask just that.
Our robot, Y, explains:
An egg would need to be going super quickly for it to burn up as it travelled through Earth’s atmosphere. Meteors burn up because they are travelling at speeds of tens of thousands of miles per hour. The friction from the meteors pushing past gas molecules causes them to heat up. If you simply dropped an egg from from space, the egg would accelerate until it reached a terminal velocity of about 120 km/hr (75 mph). That’s why it can’t speed up anymore because the pull of gravity (due to its mass) equals the push or air resistance (due to its shape).
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Can an egg survive being dropped from space? Watch a video here!
Here’s a longer video about a team determined to crack an egg drop from space!
