please help me! its an egg drop contest

[jess]

so i saw other threads in here about an egg drop but i need help because my supplies are more limited. I have only 2 sheets of newspaper and as much scotch tape as i want. i can only put the scotch tape on the newspaper and the egg can not be smuthered and hidden. its dropping from about 20 m and i have to do it in the morning so there will be more wind :[

any suggestions on structure or design? would be very grateful !! ty

[sciguy125]

Full sheets of newspaper? I think they would make a good parachute.

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

Full sheets of newspaper? I think they would make a good parachute.

Alternate on that: Use one sheet of newspaper for the actual parachute, and have another as a "basket" underneath the egg to cusion its fall.

[jess]

yeah thats what i was thinking but what type of basket? would a cone or square or what be the best? also should i have a hole in the parachute?

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by jess

yeah thats what i was thinking but what type of basket? would a cone or square or what be the best? also should i have a hole in the parachute?

If you made a cone for the basket, it could act as a cushion if it crumples correctly. You'd have to somehow make sure that it falls point straight down. As for the whole in the parachute, I think you'd need to run some experiments. I'm not well versed on parachute theory, but I think that the hole would add extra stability if it's the right size. The size of the hole, and its necessity, I think would depend on the mass distribution of the entire system. If the egg is heavy enough, it should be able to stabalize itself.

[Arefin Bari]

I will try to explain the way I did it in my engineering class, I was given the same material (2 sheets of newspaper) and 12" tape (not as much as I want). Professor asked me to create one without a parachute.

I made a "cone" out of one sheet of newspaper (like a rocket). Then I used the 2nd newspaper (cut them in pieces and made balls which I called "foam around the egg") to make a shell for the egg, so it doesn't break. The point of this was for the sharpest corner (if you are looking at a V ... you want the bottom of V to drop first) to touch the ground first. The egg was safely covered somewhere in the middle of the V. Once it hit the ground, of course the bottom of V shape messed up. But the egg was fine. I dropped it 3 times, once from 3rd floor, once from 4th floor, and once from 5th floor (not to mention with the same egg). It was a success. Since then, I never felt the urge to use parachute anymore.

Good luck with your project. I hope I was able to help even a bit (I hope you understood what I was trying to explain). If you need any help, please don't hesitate to send me a message on chiefdelphi or Aim.

Originally Posted by Billfred

One of the sheets has to be a parachute. This is non-negotiable for success--there's no way to do it without slowing down the egg.

I do have disagree with you Billfred on this topic. But I am not saying that you are wrong. You have your own way to do things, I have my own. I have made one (the way I explained) and it worked (it didn't break even after dropping from 5th floor), I didn't slow the egg down, it dropped as fast as it could. But the egg didn't even have a crack. As I explained above, You do have to make sure that the basket/cover/shell/whatever you want to call it is "comfy" enough for the egg to sit.

Originally Posted by sciguy125

If you made a cone for the basket, it could act as a cushion if it crumples correctly. You'd have to somehow make sure that it falls point straight down.

Agreed Phil. That is the key to this project. You HAVE to make sure that it falls pointing straight down. The sharp corner has to hit the ground first.

[Billfred]

I stand corrected--this is news to me.

[sciguy125]

Hmm...I'm now tempted to try to organize an egg drop contest for the Silicon Valley Regional...

Edit:
I just remembered that SJSU's ISE department has an "egg deceleration" contest. Link to PDF in upper right corner. The regional is held in the SJSU event center. But the department's competition is in November apparently... Maybe I can pull some strings. Well, maybe not seeing as I don't know any important people...

[Billfred]

I've done two, both not as successful as I'd prefer. But at least I know what I did wrong.

One of the sheets has to be a parachute. This is non-negotiable for success--there's no way to do it without slowing down the egg.

The other sheet will have to be the basket--I'd imagine a quarter-sheet basket, wrapped like a cone, connected to the corners of the chute would work, with the other 3/4 sheet used for some light padding. (Tear strips and crumple.)

These are just thoughts--make sure you test your design as best you can beforehand. It seems to do wonders to work the bugs out.

[Tom Schindler]

Originally Posted by jess

so i saw other threads in here about an egg drop but i need help because my supplies are more limited. I have only 2 sheets of newspaper and as much scotch tape as i want. i can only put the scotch tape on the newspaper and the egg can not be smuthered and hidden. its dropping from about 20 m and i have to do it in the morning so there will be more wind :[

any suggestions on structure or design? would be very grateful !! ty

I'm 100% with Arefin... form the sheets of newspaper into a cone, place the egg in teh middle of the cone, tape the cone together. Whatever you do, do not tape the egg in place-- it will slide upwards as the cone crumbles.

Works everytime... try it, i won my middle school's egg-drop competition with that design back in the day. Although i used a sheet of computer paper.

Test it out

Tom

[Conor Ryan]

I love the cone method it works if you do it right, just make sure it falls Nose down.

Here are my tips, [*]You don't need a parachute!!! It's a waste of materials and usualy doesn't have enough space to form and be affective. At least in my experinces, and I've done about 20 full drops (with egg).
[*]Make sure you have as many compressable materials as you can, they absorb energy, and thats what you want! Arefin's crubled bits of paper method is perfect for your solution. Use as much left over tape as you can to crumble up too.
[*]Do what ever you can to create a shape that will take the impact well
[*]Don't have a rigid structure!!! It'll absorb less energy

well have fun, thats what they are there for

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by jess

so i saw other threads in here about an egg drop but i need help because my supplies are more limited. I have only 2 sheets of newspaper and as much scotch tape as i want. i can only put the scotch tape on the newspaper and the egg can not be smuthered and hidden. its dropping from about 20 m and i have to do it in the morning so there will be more wind :[

any suggestions on structure or design? would be very grateful !! ty

I know this is way outside the box, but......
In the rules, does it prevent you from using the unlimited amount of tape as a "rope" attached to the newspaper containing the egg? If not, then just lower the whole assembly as slowly as you'd like until it is resting on the ground.
This completely bypasses the dropping part of the test, and in turn, removes some of the fun. But, if it works then the goal is met (kind of like a purely defensive robot). Now if you want to stick to the intent of the game, go with the cone.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by jess

so i saw other threads in here about an egg drop but i need help because my supplies are more limited. I have only 2 sheets of newspaper and as much scotch tape as i want. i can only put the scotch tape on the newspaper and the egg can not be smuthered and hidden. its dropping from about 20 m and i have to do it in the morning so there will be more wind :[

any suggestions on structure or design? would be very grateful !! ty

As much tape as you wants? Sounds like it could be useful as a packing material. Make rolls of it and place in an intermediate space around the egg and newpaper.

If you feel like using a LOT of tape, make the newspaper into a large hollow ball and fill it with wads of tape, egg at the middle. The same concept seems to have worked on Mars...

Wetzel

[Jaine Perotti]

When I did this project in 6th grade, I didn't use a parachute because I observed that most of them didn't slow down the fall of the egg sufficiently enough (although I am sure there are instances in which this method would work).

Instead, I used a box in which I suspended the egg with rubber bands.

First I wrapped the egg in foam and bubble wrap, then found a very large cardboard box. I then got a whole bunch of rubber bands and taped them all over the egg - and then taped the other ends to the inside of the box - suspending it as if it were a bug caught in a spiders web.

The rubber band method worked quite well - it survived a 3-story fall. It made a very loud sound when it hit the pavement, but the rubber bands absorbed enough of the shock to keep the egg intact.

If any of this doesn't make sense, let me know and I will explain it better.

Good luck!

-- Jaine