Egg Drop

[Sophie 378]

IIRC (again), gelatin is quite dense, so if he's being scored for mass, cotton wool might be better. Do some experiments for protection against volume and mass of gelatin and cotton wool?

Oh bother, re-reading, cotton is banned. Some random fluffy stuff instead, then.

 

[rysingsun]

Something to distribute the force evenly over the whole shell?

correct! encase it in a deformable solid of the same density. how about parrafin wax? you will need to pour it in class after you are issued your egg so you will need to pre-melt it.

however if you find that the density of wax is much different than the density of an egg then it won't work well. you will need to experiment to find a solid of the same density. a liquid will work too if the container for the liquid is strong enough not to break on impact.

 

[Sophie 378]

The density of the egg overall, or the density of eggshell? Or in between?


Hah, I'm getting quite active in this thread despite being only a biochemist. I only did physics at A-level, and no maths.

 

[rysingsun]

of the egg overall. the idea is that on impact if the egg is heavier than the medium it will want to continue to fall though the medium but if it is the same density it will not; hence it will not impact the side of the container. if the egg is lighter than the medium then on impact the medium would try to press on past the egg forcing the egg into the top of the container.

 

[ShannonCT]

IIRC (again), gelatin is quite dense, so if he's being scored for mass, cotton wool might be better. Do some experiments for protection against volume and mass of gelatin and cotton wool?

Density is not a bad thing. It means you'll need less volume to break the egg's fall. You need a good amount of fluffy stuff to decelerate the egg without breaking it. If time wasn't part of the score, I would definitely go with something soft and bulky that would slow down the fall.

correct! encase it in a deformable solid of the same density. how about parrafin wax? you will need to pour it in class after you are issued your egg so you will need to pre-melt it.

Interesting idea. I wonder if the hot wax would start to cook the egg. If you know what size the egg is going to be, you could pre-pour the wax/gel around another egg and then cut the wax/gel in half when it solidified. (Does parrafin wax maintain its shape?) If you have the wax/gel fit snuggly into a canister, putting the assigned egg back between the two halves and sealing it in the canister would be just as good as pouring the wax/gel on the day of the test.

If you aren't sure what size the egg is going to be, you might have to prepare a few different molds to prepare for different egg sizes.

 

[shmily_dana]

Used a toilet paper roll. Packed ends with saw dust. Attached tennis ball on one side and fins on the other. My design passed testing, but failed during the in class trial. The reason : the eggs were too large to fit in the toilet paper roll.

I don't remember this distance, but my HS was two stories. The drop was either out the window or off the roof. I don't remember if weight was be a factor in the contest.

 

[Renata]

My suggesting is to go with something light with an outer shell. I would suggest 3 8" x 11" sheets of paper taped togather on the long sides to make a tube. Inside the tube use loosly crumpled soft paper (toilet paper?) and use tape over the ends of the tube to keep it in. Outside the tube use loosely crumpled harder paper (printer paper?) taped or stapled all around the outside.

This is very similar to a design I had ages ago that survived a drop from the top of a six-story building, though most of my materials were illegal and/or too heavy for your purposes. I had a lidded tupperware cup about the size and shape of a water glass, slightly wider at the top than at the bottom. I filled it partway with oatmeal, stuck in a piece of that "egg-carton" foam, added the egg and another piece of foam, then filled it up with oatmeal and pu the lid on. Around the outside I wrapped a layer of the foam.

I can't remember which way it hit -- I was only 10 or 11; tumbling hadn't even occurred to me -- but I do remember it didn't bounce. I couldn't believe the egg survived.

 

[Naval Power]

Used a toilet paper roll. Packed ends with saw dust. Attached tennis ball on one side and fins on the other. My design passed testing, but failed during the in class trial. The reason : the eggs were too large to fit in the toilet paper roll.

I don't remember this distance, but my HS was two stories. The drop was either out the window or off the roof. I don't remember if weight was be a factor in the contest.

The egg will be a grade A large, would that fit? I assume that it would always lend tennis ball side down, hmm that might work.