Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I know. Another egg drop contest. But I would really appreciate any help anyone could give me. Thank you in advance.

First off, I have material restrictions. I can not use any sponges (or sponge like material), manufactured boxes, manufactured stuffed animals/toys, styrofoam and foam padding.

I also have a size and weight restriction. The object cannot be bigger than 35cm x 35cm x 35cm. If the vehicle has a parachute, the parachute must fit within these restrictions. And it can not weigh more than 350 grams.

And lastly, the contraption must hold TWO eggs, and must be able to withstand numberous drops (i.e. it will be dropped from 1 m, 1.5m, 2.5m, 4m, and from the roof of my school. Between each drop height I am not able to fix or repair anything on my contraption. The vehicle might also be thrown across the room, or flipped upside down, while falling).

Now, does anyone have ANY ideas at all?

Thanks,
Cassandra

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=egg+drop
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=egg+drop
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=egg+drop
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=egg+drop
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=egg+drop

This page is fantasic!

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

well i found the long skinny balloons you use to make party animals work as sweet cushioning. i did it with air. try with helium.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Thanks for your help, both of you.

I check out those links, but most of the other projects are just for 1 egg, and have different material restrictions and whatnot than me. Like for example, I can't exactly use the cone idea, as it will just crumble after the first drop.

Thanks for the idea about the balloons. I will be sure to try that.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Well, I thought there were enough discussions on this already, but apparantly your project is different enough to warrant another one.

I'm kind of thinking if you could somehow suspend them in the middle of something like a small beach ball. But I don't know how to open a beachball and still close it where it still holds air.

Does the parachute have to fit within the size restrictions even when it is deployed or only when it is stowed?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

are you kidding? have you never heard of the miracle which is called duct tape? :eek:

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

It must fit within the restrictions when it is fully extended.

I've attempted to build one already - consisting of popsicle sticks, elastic bands, and these cup holder things. Only problem is, was that it was way too heavy for the parachute to have any sort of affect on the contraption.

Thanks for all of your help already :)

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Ive heard that the best padding material for this is lawn clippings - grass from your back yard.

maybe thats why some many species of birds make their nests out of grass?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I know that in my class people used a tin can full of jello, but that was for one egg, maybe something along the same lines filled with jello?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I was thinking something along those lines too, but the only problem there is weight.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

EDIT: Uh, how much does 350 grams weight in ounzes and pounds for those of us who are metrically challenged?

Thank you Ken! I'm not sure what it means by manufactured box but if you can use a cardboard box for example, or any container, (probably the bigger the better) fill it to the brim with grass clippings (assuming they are still available where you live). Then put the two eggs as close to the center as you can, without them being two close to one another. Have Fun!

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

-edit- whoops. 16oz in a lb not 12. :p
obviously im a metric person

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Nope, there are 16 ounces in a pound, not 12.

(350gr/454grperlb)(16ozperlb) = 12.33 oz

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

unless you are measuring precious metals, then its 12 oz to a pound (which is why a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold)

isnt the SI system wonderfull?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

What my teacher means by "manufactured boxes" is that you can't use an already made box. You can make a box, out of whatever you'd like, but it can not be a box that you buy in stores or whatever.

Thanks again.

What does everyone think about a pyramid shaped thing?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

it wont keep the eggs from breaking, but it will keep them fresh when they do :^)

http://www.hotdotmusic.com/lyricsbyt...+The/Pyramania

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

haha So you don't think that building some sort of a pyramid and attaching the eggs to the middle of it won't help?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

would it land on a point or an edge or on a surface?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Hmm...well if it were to land on a surface, it would be alright, don't you think??

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Ok, I just checked the rules for my school's upcoming egg drop (excuse me...egg "deceleration"...) contest. I'm mad that my idea is illegal. Particularly becuase they upped first prize to $2500. With that, you will prove my idea for me.

Suspend the egg in some sort of viscous fluid. The force that would normally be directed to one side of the egg should be distributed evenly along the entire surface of the egg. The problem is that the fluid has to be viscous but still fairly light. I think some sort of dilluted corn syrup might work.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

how about a pool of CA?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

You mean negative acceleration, right? ;)

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I'm going to have to do an egg drop competition this semester. We can only use paper and glue, that's it. The egg will be dropped about 3 stories onto a paved lot.
I'm thinking parachute and air packets to break the fall.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I think the best chance of winning this is building as many different things as you can before hand and extensively testing all of them at home. Then the one that works the best, perfect it.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I'm thinking that might work best.

A cominbation of pyramid shapes, balloons, padding, and a parachute. Sound good?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

well also keep in mind the faster the Vx the less the impact force. well bad wording but i hope you get the idea. so paper airplaneish idea?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Thanks everyone, for all your ideas. I have the next day to brainstorm more ideas, and I will be back to discuss some more things. :)

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I don't have the time at the moment to really think about this but isn't that not true? The Y (vertical) component of the velocity is going to do whatever it is going to do regardless of what the x component is (if you disregard air friction). So, by putting in an x component, aren't you just adding kinetic energy to the system increasing the impact force?

I see what you are saying in that a plane has a smoother landing than a helicopter that drops out of the sky but I think a rock that you throw off horizontally hits just as hard, if not harder than a rock you drop straight down. Also, I think that if I drop two rocks at the same time, one with a parachute and one with wings, and they hit the ground at the same time, then there is no advantage to having the wings. However, if by having wings prolongs the time to decend (decreases the vertical velocity) then it would be advantageous.

I think what you mean is you want some lift or air friction or something to minimize the vertical component of the velocity and maybe as an effect of doing that you will increase the horizontal component. But back to my example of throwing a rock vs dropping a rock, they both hit with the same downward speed, and the thrown one hits with greater impact actually since it has more energy. So, I'm thinking you knew what you meant but didn't say it in quite the right way.

Of course, I could be totally wrong. I don't know. I don't even eat eggs hardly at all.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

No, the contest is called egg decelleration. The flyer said something about an egg being able to fall 2 miles as long as it doesn't decelerate too suddenly.

That would only work if the system (like an airplane, as you mentioned) was such that >Vx resulted in <Vy. If we were to follow a particle, Vx and Vy would be completely independent of each other. Assuming no spin, Vx creates a rubbing force on the object, while Vy causes a crushing force. Well, the acceleration does, but it'll be proportional to V. I guess that, in general, <Vy will result in <dVy/dt.

In something like a parachute, I still don't think that Vx matters. How ever your system is designed, in order to decrease the impact force, dVy/dt has to be minimized. If your system is such that Vy is inversely proportional to Vx, then yes, >Vx would create <Vy and thus <dVy/dt.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

yea. i guess usingvx and such outta the top of my head when im tired wasnt a good idea. well the plan was that you can roll away. see, if you jump off a roof, theres 2 ways to do it. one is hang off the ledge as low as you can go and then bend your knees as you impact trying to gain time to reduce force. the other would be running as fast as you can sidewways off the roof and then rolling once you hit ground. techinically if its a person you'd also be cushioning yourself but think. a car dropped straight down will not survive but if you have a high enough Vx and the impact has little friction then the car will roll away. even if the Vy at the impact is the same the force is deflected i guess? bad wording sorry. but that was what i was going for

or you can do the glider i dea as sumone said

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

You can't simply disregard Vx. If you take your box and throw it across the room, it will hit the ground and roll. And the force with which it impacts the ground (i think) is actually the sum of the horizontal and vertical vectors. It takes ALL the force, not just the Y force.

But hey, I've only had two months of physics, so don't quote me.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

It's not quite the sum, since you need to use the Pythagorean theorem (V^2 = Vx^2 + Vy^2).

However, assuming that the contraptions are dropped straight down, an airplane design might be advantageous, since it would convert vertical velocity to horizontal velocity. Horizontal velocity is advantageous here because it is very easy to slowly decelerate in a horizontal direction since your stopping distance is virtually unlimited. Your vertical stopping distance in this case is the distance from your egg to the leading edge of your container, which is much shorter. Remember that F=ma, so the lower the acceleration (or deceleration), the lower the force on the egg.

That said, I agree that the key to winning is to practice with several designs.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

only if the box stops there. if the box keeps going with Vx. then the force will be less

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

know what you need? those hand warmer chemical things?

you need one of those, on steriods.

Use it for packing material, and if it just happens to cook the egg on the way down, well.... thats not your fault is it?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

Now THAT is thinking outside the box. Nice one.

two approaches
 

The way I see it, there are two main approaches:
1. Padding the fall
2. Slowing the fall

The most effective solution will combine both of these aspects, to slow the fall and pad it. Just something to think about.

Question: Do they let you tell them where to hold it when they drop it? Solutions that rely on being dropped in the correct orientation (for example, for short falls, and perhaps for longer ones, a parachute would need to be dropped in the open/opening position from above the payload to be effective) would not work if they do not let you dictate what orientation your device is dropped in.


I just landed on a killer solution! Wrap the eggs in 20 layers of duct tape. They may crack, but the judges will never be able to unwrap the whole thing and prove it! They will be forced to hand over the prize! :)

Re: two approaches
 

3. Cooking the egg
4. speeding up time (and thereby slowing down the impact)
5.vaporizing the sidwalk just before impact
6. cancelling gravity (open a black hole, worm hole?)
7. Telekinese
8. Hypnosis (these are not the eggs your looking for, move along)
9. Slight off hand: where did the egg go? here it is, behind your ear!
10. Time travel (have the egg jump ahead and skip over the impact)
11. camera tricks
12. rubber eggs (from rubber chickens?)
13. Bribe the judge
14. Marry the judges daughter
15. replace the sidewalk with a block of foam (also known as 'foaming the runway')
16. magnetic eggs

hey Im just getting warmed up here :^)

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

How about this one: just leave it on the roof and wait for quantum mechanics to do it's job. Eventually, it'll spontaniously appear on the ground. Actually...it'll probably appear in the air and plummet to it's death first...

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

can you leave the egg in the chicken, and drop the chicken?

or use a raw chicken?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

You might be better off with a live chicken. As opposed to the eggs, they have self-preservation insincts and will take extra measures to ensure their survival.

Well, if you get a fertilized egg and wait for it hatch, you could drop the resulting chicken.

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

noone ever said anythign about it being a chicken egg.how about like a frog egg?

Re: Egg drop Contest- Help Please!!
 

I dont know if anyone brought this up yet? what if you encased the egg in silly putty?

silly putty will flow and mold itself into any shape or space, but when you drop it, it bounces

and since the patent has expired, you can now buy fifty pound boxes of the material from Dow, for about $7 a pound.

Ive seen it sold on the internet in smaller quantity, for about $10 a pound.

the hard part would be getting the silly putty back off the egg.