Egg Drop

[dazedandconfused]

My child came home today with a project for physics class. They are conducting an egg drop. The limitations are as follows....

* No packing materials (foam rubber, styrofoam, packing peanuts,etc) can be used
* Device must fit through a 6X6 opening.
* Device must not exceed 400 grams.
* Device cannot exceed 61cm in length.
* No drag inducers can be used in any way (parachutes, streamers, etc


What I do know is the project involves a 'Large' egg. It will be dropped 9 meters. You only have a minute to configure your device. We just found out today - and the project is due at the end of the week.
We have tried to put the egg in ziploc bags with cereal - but after 'layering' the ziploc bags - we exceeded the length. We are trying to cofigure something with pantyhose. We put the egg in pantyhose with cereal and tried to 'tie' the ends with rubberbands. The egg broke and the rubber bands won't stay in place. I thought of bubble wrap - then realized that fell into the 'packaging material' no-no's.

Any advice will be helpful. Cracked eggs receive a failing grade.

[deleted-71495]

Dear dazedandconfused,

this is a pretty common project, actually it has popped up multiple times on this forum. The restrictions you quoted seem to exclude the most common solutions so I would review the recent curriculum of your child's physics class for clues, e.g. what is the context of this project. Then you could begin by looking for 'egg drop' in the search window on this page, or google it outright on the web.

[dazedandconfused]

I have searched online and seem to only find solutions to this project that include the items we are restricted from using. This project literally was written on a piece of paper - in the terms I outlined with the restrictions.

The rest of the project listed the grading system. If your egg breaks - automatic 'F'.

Based on research, and trial and error - we are finding a 'road block' in the weight, length, and opening restrictions.

[deleted-71588]

Am I reading the problem statement correctly that a large raw chicken egg will be supplied to you at the test location and you have 60 seconds to "pack it for drop"?

The interpretation of packing materials is subjective so you will probably have to get pre-approval for your intended method.

Eggs will take a lot of pressure if it is distributed over a large area without cracking.

Think about using your panty hose idea, but putting the egg in the middle and tying knot on both sides then using a larger cylidrical plastic container or a piece of 3 inch Schedule 40 PVC pipe, drill holes in the middle of opposite sides and pull the panty hose ends through both holes and wrap the ends around the outside and tie the ends together making a sling suspension.

Ever see a recipe for "Knox blocks", package of regular jello plus 2 packages of unflavored jelatin mixed with very little water? It gets hard and rubbery? My daughter won an egg drop contest encasing a raw egg in a extra strength jello in a small plastic food container with the lid taped on. It had to survive a drop from the roof of a single story school. Her design was a bit over kill, it survived a drop from the roof of the 5 story library next door. Given your constraints, you can't do that because of the time for the jello to set, but...

Think about wrapping the egg in plastic wrap or waxed paper so that it can be extracted for verification and then using solid Crisco, icing, caulking and other similar materials that won't harden and some small plastic container with a locking lid (assuming whatever you use won't "glue" the lid on), or a way to use a few self tapping screws and a power screw driver to attach the lid.

[deleted-71487]

The only thing that occurs to me is some kind of suspension system. For example, if you had a frame that was a 6" sphere that was threaded through with lots of rubber bands, then you could push them aside and insert the egg into the center of the "nest". Not sure that would be sufficient for the height you'd have to drop it, but if not then a cylinder weighted at one end would keep it oriented nose down and a longer "nest" that ended with some kind of "trampoline" of rubber bands might do it... Of course you'd want to test it before the day.