Eggs Crack Less When Dropped on Their Sides

MIT researchers found horizontal eggs withstood sudden impacts better than vertical eggs in a study published in Communications Physics.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Nutrition

Bold vector editorial illustration of two cream-white eggs, one balanced upright on its tip and one lying on its side, against a flat sage-green field. — MIT researchers found eggs dropped on their sides cracked less often than eggs dropped on their tips, challenging common assumptions about egg strength. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

MIT researchers found that eggs dropped on their sides cracked less often than eggs dropped on their tips. The study, published in the journal Communications Physics in 2025, tested eggs under both static squeezing and dynamic impact conditions.

Why it matters

The findings challenge a common assumption about egg strength by separating how hard an egg is to squeeze from how well it resists sudden impacts. For Cambridge readers, the work offers a practical, science-based insight into everyday kitchen handling and egg packaging.

The study ran 180 drop tests comparing egg orientations, with horizontal eggs cracking less than vertical eggs in the dynamic trials. The extraction does not specify how the results would translate to eggs handled outside controlled laboratory conditions.

The players

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, whose Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering conducted the egg study.

Tal Cohen

A professor at MIT whose research group led the egg study and runs an annual egg drop competition for first-year engineering students.

David Taylor

An emeritus professor at Trinity College Dublin who commented on the MIT research.

The details

Researchers in Professor Tal Cohen's group at MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering squeezed eggs until they broke and also dropped them from varying heights using solenoids and 3D-printed bases to control orientation. The work began after spare eggs in the lab prompted the team to test a long-held theory about egg orientation.

2025: MIT's study on egg orientation is published in Communications Physics.
November 1, 2026: Economic Times publishes an article on the MIT egg study.

Big Picture

The research grew out of an annual egg drop competition that Professor Tal Cohen's group runs for first-year MIT engineering students, turning a classroom exercise into a formal study of how eggs break. It shows how hands-on engineering challenges can prompt testing of assumptions that have long gone unexamined.

The findings suggest that how eggs are positioned during handling and transport may affect how often they crack. Home cooks and shoppers can apply this by keeping eggs on their sides in storage where practical.

The takeaway

Handling eggs with care matters more than squeezing strength alone, since sudden impacts are what usually crack them. Storing eggs on their sides may reduce breakage at home.