nother egg drop contest

[SchmitTheNordic]

We are having an egg drop contest as part of a mechanical engineering class, but we have a few restraints.

1. Minimize weight
2. Fall as close to a target as possible
3. Must use a drag inducing device of some sort (i.e. parachute)

Our height is only 25 feet, and there are no size restrictions, only weight and accuracy count. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for your time.

[Cory]

If this is indoors, a parachute would work, since there's no wind. you could make it small enough to provide some drag, but not move off course, or larger with a hole in the center. If it's still moving pretty fast, put some sort of structure on the bottom that will crush inward when it hits the ground, transfering the force of impact into that instead of the egg.

Good luck,

Cory

[KyleGilbert45]

Here ya go...check these threads out...

Egg Drop

Egg Drop (Old)


Why are peoply always asking for assistance with their egg drop projects? Can't you just figure it out on your own....

[Kris Verdeyen]

A guy I know always likes to talk about an egg drop contest he saw in college. The winner was the egg that fell from the highest floor without breaking, with tiebreakers decided by flight time (the shorter the better).

The design that won was a steel tube, capped at one end, filled with a viscous fluid. The tube had fins along the back, looked somewhat like an upside down rocket, and was very heavy. To use it, you simply floated the egg on the fluid, and let the beast go. The only problem was that when the "rocket" landed, it would bury itself (bomb-style) in a concrete courtyard. After three or four drops resulting in three or four successively bigger holes (but no broken eggs), the contest judges finally decided to award the designer the prize, as long as he didn't drop it anymore.

[JakeGallagher]

We had an egg drop contest in 5th grade. The rules were a little different, but it was still a lot of fun. You had to make a container that was rigid, weighed at least one pound, and could protect an egg from an eight foot drop, a twenty foot drop, a fourty foot drop and a three hundred foot drop.
I made it to the fourty.

[Pat Roche]

I just did one in physics and we could only use five feet of paper and a foot of tape....really light weight....make a cone the long way of an 8.5 by 11 and stuff it then use a parachute for drag (i think you said you have to use a drag device), my egg won from a drop of 40ft.

-Pat

[Eric Bareiss]

Googled it and found this:

http://www.niemworks.com/else/im/eggdrop/jeff_b.jpg

http://www.niemworks.com/else/im/eggdrop/jeff_m.jpg

http://www.niemworks.com/else/im/eggdrop/richard.jpg

[RiceRobotica]

I had an egg drop recently and our restraints were much different. It must be the size of a shoe box, not a boot box. We could have NO kind of restraining drag. No parachutes, no bubble wrap, packing peanuts or expandable foam. Well, I filled a box with rice krispies, made a 3 way hammock with panty hose that the egg sat in and covered the box in air filled balloons. The balloons acted just like when the mars rover dropped and cushioned the fall. It actually help up the acceleration a bit, but it was constantly accelerating the entire time, just slower. The top and bottom, long, thin balloons would pop, instead of letting it bounce and possibly break the egg. It worked quite well. The class, though, made me take the balloons off. Needless to say, rice krispies were everywhere.

[MOEmaniac]

You could possibly use a helium filled balloon as the drag and it would help slow the decent enough so that the impact of hitting the ground wouldn't break the egg. Then fill a cup with house insulation material and put the egg in the middle of the insulation. Then tie the balloon to the cup and bombs away. Make sure u have just enough helium in the balloon so that it just barely drops. The impact of hitting the ground should be close to none.

[RiceRobotica]

Well, the thing was, Steve... With mine, it was just regular air filled balloons. They increased the surface area, but with a little space in between, some air could filter through to make it stay balanced. This is what it looked like with the top off. The top had two long skinny balloons duct taped to it and the top strand of panty hose was pulled through a hole there, suspending the egg in the middle of the box.

[Team311]

the last egg drop contest that my troop had i took a small ups shipping box and put the egg in two peices of egg carton. and then filled the box with towels and closed the box. they dropped it from the top of the highest tree they could find and the egg didnt break.

[Arefin Bari]

i had an egg drop contest for my classes at FAU last summer... and i was only allowed to use two sheets of newspaper and 12 inch piece of tape... i technically made a cylinder where i had the egg secured and then a cone.. which would make a face like a rocket... had the egg about 8 inches off the ground (when it touched the groud)... so the tips of the cone will be smashed and the egg would be secured... i dropped that from 5th floor and it still did not break... since you are allowed to use anything... why not try putting some foam or something soft around the egg and then secure it in the cylinder...