Jerusalem pupils protect raw egg in 14-story fall

"I am proud of the pupils at the Bilingual School who proved that Jerusalem schools are among the leaders in science,” Mayor Barkat says.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
BILINGUAL School’s winning pupils and teachers (photo credit: Jerusalem Municipality)
BILINGUAL School’s winning pupils and teachers
(photo credit: Jerusalem Municipality)
How can a raw egg be thrown out a 14th-story window of the Holyland apartment complex without it being broken by the time it lands? Jewish and Arab teens studying at Jerusalem’s Bilingual School have done it – and shown excellence in science.
A group of pupils – described on Wednesday by the municipality as “future scientists – developed a paste made of cornflour that serves as a natural “shock absorber.”
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat held a city hall ceremony for the teens, who received first prize in a science competition among 200 projects from the capital, Beersheba and Lod.
The project with the “magic cornflour paste” showed that the substance had the right physical characteristics to absorb the vibrations from the fall and impact so that the egg didn’t break.
The pupils sought the maximum height from which the raw egg covered with cornflour paste would not shatter.
They hurled it from the 10-meter-high roof of their school, and it survived without a scratch.
Then they threw it from the 14th floor of the Holyland Tower, and it survived without turning into the makings of an omelet.
“The Jerusalem Municipality is proud to lead the significant step of strengthening the educational system in the field of science and technology.
I am proud of the pupils at the Bilingual School who proved that Jerusalem schools are among the leaders in science,” Barkat declared.
The science competition was organized near the end of the school year by the Educational Ministry to strengthen scientific and technological education that the municipality implemented in cooperation with the city’s Bloomfield Science Museum.
The competition is the highlight of a broad program for strengthening scientific and technological studies among youths that has been carried out as a pilot project in the three cities.
It included learning how scientists research natural processes, in-depth problem solving and the development of research skills, the municipality said.