Students and teacher reclaim egg drop record for USA with whopping 83-ft descent

A group of students and their teacher teamed up once again to take their egg drop record back.

Matthew Ma, Charlie Gawthrop, Jeffrey Wang, Derrick Wood and Breckin Shefflerwood (all USA) have again claimed the record for greatest height to drop a protected egg without breaking.

The group had held the record before with a height of 13.31 m (43 ft 8 in), but this time, dropped it from 25.3 m (83 ft).

That’s about as tall as a blue whale is long.

They prepared for the big moment by using a drone to practise and stress test their design numerous times before their official attempt.

Derrick, a chemistry teacher at Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania, acted as the boys’ advisor.

They call themselves the T/E Egg Drop Team.

He said: “Our team from Conestoga High School was a former record holder back in 2022 and our record was broken.

“We’re hoping to bring this record back today to the United States.”

The record stood at 16.5 m (54 ft 1 in), and the team had big ambitions, setting their sights on breaking the 80-ft mark.

Derrick is seen in a video explaining to the gathered crowd: “To drop a protected egg means you can use certain materials.

“We have materials such as straws and masking tape and note cards and some cardboard.

“And a plastic grocery bag and some elastic cord, that’s our egg drop mechanism.”

He explained how they were restricted in only being able to use so much of each material and that the egg was not allowed to be hard boiled.

Two members of the group took the egg up in a crane to reach their desired height and spread the plastic bag out like a parachute to slow the egg’s fall to the ground.

The egg slowly made its way down and when it finally landed, one of the students rushed over to check if it was unharmed.

With the egg still completely intact, the foursome took their record back.

They officially ended their attempt by dropping the egg on the floor to prove it wasn’t boiled.