The Great Egg Drop!
Mr. Landers' science classes drop helpless eggs from 50 feet
The Task
On Monday, September 29, it rained eggs. Not really, Mr. Landers' science classes were actually dropping the eggs from a fifty foot high fire truck ladder. But why? In our class, we were assigned to get with a partner and design a contraption that would allow an egg to be dropped from fifty feet, and come out unharmed. In this presentation, I will tell you exactly what my partner and I did to try and accomplish just that.
The Materials
In this assignment, we were given a list of all the materials we were allowed to use. The materials were; two rubber bands, 20 cm. by 20 cm. piece of cardboard, 3 cotton balls, 5 plastic straws, 2 pieces of paper, 5 packaging peanuts, 50 cm. kite string, 50 cm. tape, 20 cm. by 20 cm. of plastic bag, 2 Dixie cups, 5 toothpicks, 5 Q-tips, and 3 Popsicle sticks
Brainstorming
First off, my partner and I just tried to come up with a design that would keep our egg safe. We were able to come with a basic design, and then just build and adjust off of that.
Construction
Next, we turned our ideas on paper, into a reality. But, not everything work right away, so we had to redesign and see what worked through trial and error. Our contraption had a cardboard base, so we had a safe place to put our egg on and help cushion the fall. We took two Dixie cups and put the egg in between, where there was also packaging peanuts and cotton balls, so when the egg landed it wouldn't crack. To top it all off, we made a straw and plastic bag parachute on top, so that our egg would float down gently when it was dropped.
Testing
Next, my partner and I had to find out if our contraption, which by this point was named the Eggatron 3000, was even going to keep our egg safe. Luckily, Mr. Landers let us use fake eggs filled with marbles, to substitute for the real eggs while we tested. Unfortunately, our first prototype, Eggert prototype one, cracked. Eggert prototype two, on the other hand survived.
Improve
After all the testing, my partner and I were still looking for ways to make our contraption better. Instead of having a full piece of cardboard as a base, to make it lighter we cut some of the cardboard, leaving just enough room for our egg capsule.
Final Product
Then, the test day came. We got a real egg, strapped it into the contraption, brought it outside where a firetruck waited for us and up it went. When ours was about to be dropped, I was worried it wasn't going to make it. The it was dropped. It made one of the smoothest descents I have ever seen, and our egg landed, unharmed. That brave egg's name was Eggert!