I had already measured the force required to break an egg using the egg crusher I made. However, in that test the egg was simply between two wooden boards, which means that the force was concentrated on a very small area on the egg. I decided to use the egg crusher with the egg in between two pieces of ballistics gel, which would spread out the force in much the same way as if the egg was inside a block of gel.
I cut two pieces of ballistics gel 1.5cm thick to go above and bellow the egg in the egg crusher. I then added weight until the egg broke to find the amount of force needed.
Figure 7. Egg between ballistics gel in egg crusher.
60 lbs. of weights on the egg in the egg crusher.
Results
With the force spread out over a larger area on the egg it didn’t break until I put 60lbs of weights onto the crusher. This is equivalent to 267 Newtons of force, over 7 times the force required to break the egg without the gel.
This test shows why it was so difficult to break the egg encased 5cm in the ballistics gel block. If all the force on the egg is concentrated on a single point of contact, then the egg will break fairly easily. However, the ballistics gel surrounds the egg and spreads the force over the entire egg, which combined with the domed shape of the egg, makes it extremely difficult to break.
Figure 8. Ballistcs gel surrounding the egg.