[archiver]

Posted by Anton Abaya.

Student on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks.

Posted on 4/16/2000 10:48 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Egg drop help Please..:-) posted by Lora Knepper on 4/14/2000 8:08 AM MST:



Hello...

our eggdrop was a little simpler. limit was paper and tape and the max dimensions was a 12' x 12' x 12' cube.

some covered the egg tons of paper and tape. it took forever to check if the egg survived or not. but eventually, for some weird reason, that strategy of merely wrapping the egg from all sides....DID NOT WORK. The eggs broke in this manner.

On the other hand, there was one person who made a parachute out of paper. It worked nicely. But the parachute ended up performing like a wing and gently landed the egg far away.

I had a different approach, which worked. I folded paper to imitate springs. I surrounded the part of the egg that I figured would fall first, but i covered the entire egg anyway with them, making sure the egg does not come into contact with the ground at all. And then I took two long pieces of paper and added it for style (they looked like tails). My egg was called the sperminator (resembling a sperm). To say the least it survived.

I've heard of another design. It involved making a rocket like structure wherein the rocket drops pointed down. The egg is located at the tail of the rocket. Once the rocket hits the ground, the egg travels down the shaft of the rocket which deaccelerates the egg, but not fast enough to break the egg. The rocket is crushed, but the egg survives.... It was a daring attempt that nobody thought would work, but did.

My best suggestion is if time permits, buy three dozen eggs and make an omelet. That or test different design ideas and choose the best one.

Have fun! I love EGG DROPS!

--Anton
Team Leader
Rambots, #419
UMass Boston / BC High