Egg Drop Project

[Fustigator]

Design a device that can safely transport an egg when dropped from about 10+ meters to the ground (the egg cannot crack or break.) The device must have a max of 100 grams (record is 17g) and may be made of wood, cloth, plastic, string, paper, glue, metal, tape, rubber and/or cardboard. It cannot be made of anything that will rot or smells, liquids, or gels or anything that could potentially injure someone. The device may not include padding of any kind inside or outside the structure, containers filled with gas (bubble wrap, balloons, etc), a parachute or wing of any type, or wrapping or coating of the egg. Other requirements are a way to easily insert and remove the egg in 30 seconds, the egg must remain inside the device throughout the fall and after the landing, all parts of the device must remain together throughout the travel, and max dimensions are 25 cm * 25 cm * 40cm at all times. Budget: $8.

 

DUE: May 30th.

 

 

Well...that's everything about it. I don't have any ideas since I can't wrap/coat it or use any liquids. Any helpful hints? Any will be greatly appreciated! Please and Thank You!

[Rocket Man]

are you sure you can't use liquids?

does the device need to suffer 1 or 2 drops?

[insane_alien]

theres about 50 other threads like this. use the search function.

[Klaynos]

Paper cones

[Fustigator]

How? Explain. i'm a idiot at Science.

[Inspiration]

lol, i remember doing an experiment like this in grade seven. we went to a science centre and we were asked to build a "capsule" for our egg out of stickey-tape and straws. some were verry effective, others were not, the materials you use will have an impact on the results-- it should be something with a degree of rigidity, but not completley rigid (absorbs impact)... look for materials that dont just go "thump" when dropped. and obviousley something light. Oh and containing gas is hard to clasify too, everything does, but like my primary school example (im in grade 12 now) something hollow, like straws, thats not sealed technically contains gas, but is not a CONTAINER for gas..... they do well. The second point to my story is that although all groups used the same materials, not all were as successfull as others. when our team got to the second story, our egg cracked, whereas other teams got to the third and fourth story. DESIGN is crucial, like i said, your design needs to ABSORB the impact, not just TRANSFERR it.

[spooky]

yeah we did something Like this at my last Venturer scout Camp, we did the straw thing. It took a car running over it to break ours ^.^ good times.

 

Maybe like a box made of straws or something?

[Klaynos]

yeah we did something Like this at my last Venturer scout Camp, we did the straw thing. It took a car running over it to break ours ^.^ good times.

 

Maybe like a box made of straws or something?

 

Hrmmm Was it fun? Might try it with some explorers at some point...

 

anyway back to the topic.

 

I'd use the cones as a crumple zone to change the impact time They'd work the same as the straws did

[bored_teen]

i wonder.......

 

let's say you have an a liquid in which an egg would float. could you put the liquid in a container, put the egg in, seal it, and drop it without the egg breaking?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Depends. If the egg is buoyant enough, it won't hit the bottom of the container, and it probably won't crack. But it might bounce back and hit the top.

[Rocket Man]

read the first post, you can't use liquids.

the ideal is a fluid that has the egg at neutral bouyancy with high viscousity. dense jelly for example.

 

i did one of these, i used a butter container with cotton wool and air filled water bombs. it could probably handle 10m because of it's ridiculously low critical velocity. unfortunately, balloons are also out.

[bored_teen]

read the first post, you can't use liquids.

the ideal is a fluid that has the egg at neutral bouyancy with high viscousity. dense jelly for example.

 

i did one of these, i used a butter container with cotton wool and air filled water bombs. it could probably handle 10m because of it's ridiculously low critical velocity. unfortunately, balloons are also out.

 

i understand that you can't use liquids. i was just wondering. hence the "i wonder.........."

 

so it may not, if it stays buoyant? isn't shock transferred through liquid?

[Rocket Man]

that's going to depend on the speed of sound through the egg and holding meduim.

if there's any big discrepancy, the egg's shell could get pulverised. however, the container can't create a high enough frequency of shock wave on impact to really matter to the egg

(slow ramp up time due to the likelyhood of an uneven landing)