Consider dropping the following objects on the floor from a height of five feet: (1) a chalk eraser; (2) a raw egg; (3) fine glassware; (4) a lump of clay; (5) a feather; (6) a flat piece of paper; (7) a crumpled piece of paper. Develop a theory that connects the final state of these being dropped and their behavior while falling to their other material properties.
Contributed by Ernie Davis ( davise@cs.nyu.edu), New York University, U.S.A. (18th September 1997)