Egg Drop Project

[hockyfan]

I'm sure you've all done this at one point....

I have a younger cousin who needs suggestions for an egg drop project. He will be dropping an egg from a certain distance (not sure how high, but not too high), and he has to build a device that will prevent it from breaking.

The requirements are that there are no parachutes, it cannot be more than 35 inches in any direction, it cannot consist primarily of commercial packing, duct tape etc. (although those materials may be used, just only as a small part of the design), and he has to be able to insert/remove the egg without dissasembling the entire device.

Can anyone help me (him) out? Thanks in advance.



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[Fruitloops]

When I did that for school, we used straws and tape. Although that was a requirement, so we didn't have a choice, it did work out okay.

[fospher.com]

May I suggest an alternative?

[hockyfan]

So how would it be made with straws and tape? Ie., what shape should the straws be in?



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[PAlexC]

Do a variation on a paper helicopter. It'll slow the fall...hopefully.

[hockyfan]

Originally posted by PAlexC
Do a variation on a paper helicopter. It'll slow the fall...hopefully.

I think that would fall into the parachute category, so no good.



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[PAlexC]

Ah, it is technically not a parachute, especially if you build a rubber band motor to spin the blades. They won't have enough force to lift the egg, but can slow the fall.

[Fruitloops]

Oh God, I don't know my shapes... I know the center was a square, the egg was taped in securely to the inside of the square, then another layer of stars was built out, but like I said I can't put a name on the shape which would help. Maybe I can find a picture or something on Google.

[Fruitloops]

This is a pretty good 2D representation of what I made, albeit it is 2D, but I'm sure you could figure out how to do it in the 3D world.



The image showed a Red X for me until I right-clicked and said Show Image As, then it showed up.

[hockyfan]

Looks good, what should I search on google to get some ideas?



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[Naked inc.]

just put the egg in the middle of a bunch of balloons, mars lander style.

[yasunobu13]

Originally posted by Fruitloops
This is a pretty good 2D representation of what I made, albeit it is 2D, but I'm sure you could figure out how to do it in the 3D world.



The image showed a Red X for me until I right-clicked and said Show Image As, then it showed up.

was it a Small Rhombicuboctahedron?
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SmallRh...ctahedron.html

I prefer the dodecahedrons, myself
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Dodecahedron.html

[hockyfan]

Originally posted by Fruitloops
This is a pretty good 2D representation of what I made, albeit it is 2D, but I'm sure you could figure out how to do it in the 3D world.

http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/1856/egg6.gif

The image showed a Red X for me until I right-clicked and said Show Image As, then it showed up.

And how would you get the egg to stay put in the middle?



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[gerbick]

take four popsicle sticks... make a square out of them. then, take four straws, and cut them in half.

take some tape, and have it go from the top of the popsicle sticks to about halfway of the above square, and wrap down to the bottom part of the stick. do this all the way around the "square" making like a flimsy "entry point"...

now, take some sipping straws, and cut them in half or so. might have to measure. anyway, staple them, lengthwise, to the popsicle stick forming like a "door" to the middle.

under this all, place a cardboad box with a bit of foam in it. place this contraption above the box.

here's a 2 second render I just did quickly of the "contraption"...

[Fruitloops]

Is a Rhombicuboctahedron essentially a rhombus? Dictionary has no deffinition for Rhombicuboctahedron so I can't find out that way, .

And that was the one I used, I built five squares and put four of them on each side of the fifth one. Then connected them to add more support.

[Fruitloops]

Originally posted by hockyfan
And how would you get the egg to stay put in the middle?



h

Lots of tape. :P I was a kid, putting tons of tape on an egg was fun, I never thought of any other way.

[Fruitloops]

Oh, I was stupid there. That's not how I did mine, since like your cousin, the egg had to be easily removed. I think what I did was wrap the inner square of straws almost entirely, leaving just enough room to slip an egg through at the top. Then just removed the tape at the end.

[el-Ignoramus]

Originally posted by Naked inc.
just put the egg in the middle of a bunch of balloons, mars lander style.

Looks like something Dr.Mephisto would genetically engineer

[hockyfan]

Wow gerbs, quite a nice diagram. Can you elaborate a bit more in the "entry point" and on the "door"? Thanks.



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[roro]

put a helmet on it

if the helmet has contact with all the surface of the egg it wont break


i just see this experiment on a german tv program