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FARMINGTON — Katherine Russell peeked inside a plastic-wrapped wooden box filled with packing peanuts, trying to look at the raw egg inside.
The sixth-grader at John Hancock Charter School in Pleasant Grove crafted the box with her dad as a physics project for school.
“It’s a little egg house,” she explained.
But the egg didn't fall from a school rooftop.
Katherine had dropped her project from Lagoon’s Sky Ride, and the egg survived the fall intact.
Lagoon doesn’t normally allow riders to drop things from its transport ski lift ride, but Friday was an exception.
Jason Langlois, a drama teacher at Ascent Academy in Farmington, stood underneath the Sky Ride to watch students drop their eggs.
“It’s super fun,” Langlois said. “This is our first time we’ve ever brought our school.”
Physics Day at Lagoon attracts an average of 8,000 middle and high school students from more than 200 schools in five states each year. Students and teachers are able to enjoy the park’s attractions while thinking about the physics behind the fun.
“This is a whole heck of a lot more fun than the classroom stuff,” said J.R. Dennison, event organizer and Utah State University physics professor. “That’s the point — a chance for kids who love science and doing all those geek things and staying after school and reading the textbooks. It’s a chance for them to get out and have some fun.”
For 27 years, Dennison has watched students take part in the events, from dropping eggs from the Sky Ride to determining G-forces on Colossus.
“They have fun, they learn a ton, and they manage not to throw up,” he said with a laugh.
Julie Freed, Lagoon director of special events, was just glad the sun was shining. In past years, it’s rained during the event, she said.
The event was first initiated in 1990 by Utah State’s physics department. Physics Day was held on campus until the crowds became too large.
“The purpose is obviously an outreach from the university,” said Jan Sojka, who heads USU's physics department. “But it’s more a matter of giving students from over 200 schools a unique opportunity.”
Sojka said the organizers’ main concern moving the event was about safety.
“There was always a fear that some of the things that we’re doing on the rides could be dangerous. How do you guarantee safety? But working together, we’ve never had a problem,” he said.
In the center of the park, students set up projects for three contests — physics demonstration, logo design and Lagoon ride design — with prizes going to winners and their teachers, said James Coburn, an organizer of the event and physics department laboratory supervisor at USU.
“They’re riding rides, but they’re also answering questions and thinking about physics,” Coburn said.
