How do I keep an egg from breaking ? PLEASE READ

[MentalIlness]

Ok, My daughter has a project "of sorts" for school. She will need to drop an egg off of the school roof. Aprox 30 feet drop. The egg cannot be glued, taped for become stationary inside an object.

It could be wrapped in tissue paper, probably wouldnt break hitting the ground, but cannot use tape. Could be in a box filled with tissue.

Anyone have any suggestions ? The container can be no bigger than 5 inches in height, length and width.

I probably didn't clarify the question enough, so if you need more info, just ask. This is due tomorrow.

 

[sdifox]

liar, it's your homework isn't it

 

[amdhunter]

Pics of dau.., um. Nevermind.

 

[deadlyapp]

I think every junior high kid has done this.

You need to construct something that will absorb the impact.

I've used rubber bands and suspended an egg inside a multi layer egg crate that absorbed a large amount of the impact force.

 

[Jeff7]

Reduce the acceleration forces experienced by the egg.

Acceleration is a change in velocity in a certain amount of time.

Take it from there.

 

[xSauronx]

if youd be a diligent HOT DEALER you could have a collection of memory foam samples by now that would work great for this

 

[Savij]

Explosive bolts on the hatch.

 

[Bignate603]

Tissues are two soft, it will just squash them all the way through. Eggs can actually take a huge amount of force as long as it is very evenly spread out. Maybe pack in the middle of a jar of peanut butter or clay so you can have it very evenly spread out the force and then pad the jar?

 

[marrr]

I remember doing something like that in elementary school.. I think we ended up putting the egg inside a nerf football.. I dont remember if it broke or not.

 

[MentalIlness]

You all are on the right track, keep'em coming.

Nah, not mine lol. Ive been outta school for 15 years.

 

[MentalIlness]

My daughter just informed me that the egg has to be standing straight up. Cannot be laying on it's side.

 

[SandEagle]

can you dip it in cement?

 

[SonicIce]

mattress foam?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Your daughter needs to do this. It's called 'problem solving.' Even giving her hints or suggestions, handicaps the exercise. The object is not to get the egg to the ground unbroken, the object is to teach problem solving, critical thinking and, executing a plan.

I spent a year feeding school age kids and I can tell you that the majority of todays children have zero problem solving skills.

 

[TuxDave]

Put it in a container full of marshmallow creme and you'll win.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Well of course the egg should be standing up. The ends are the most structurally sturdy part.

A method I used in HS to let my egg survive a 5 story drop was to put the egg into a non newtonian fluid inside a tennis ball tube.

 

[darkxshade]

show up during the experiment at the ground level and catch the drop.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Boil the egg.

 

[dullard]

I never got the chance to do this in school. I always wanted to though.

The biggest benefit you can have is to have a crumple zone - something between the egg and the ground that breaks so that the egg doesn't have to break. Think corn flakes or something similar inside the box. Cereal will slow the egg's impact and is more fragile than the egg. So the cereal will break instead of the egg. Of course, the cereal must be under the egg to have any benefitl. And don't overstuff the box with cereal, otherwise you fail on the "egg cannot be stationary" rule.

The next benefit is to minimize the velocity of the impact. A piece of paper will drift back and forth and slowly approach the ground. A rock will not. The rock will hit with a high velocity. What you want is something light with a large horizontal surface area. Make the container as wide and deep as possible (most surface area for wind resistance) but fill it with something lightweight. That is another benefit of cereal. Cereal is light which will keep the impact velocity to a minimum. You could also slow it's decent with other means (such as a parachute, wings, helicopter blades, etc), but those are difficult with such small dimensions.

 

[sdifox]

Parachute

 

[thepd7]

I never got the chance to do this in school. I always wanted to though.

The biggest benefit you can have is to have a crumple zone - something between the egg and the ground that breaks so that the egg doesn't have to break. Think corn flakes or something similar inside the box. Cereal will slow the egg's impact and is more fragile than the egg. So the cereal will break instead of the egg. Of course, the cereal must be under the egg to have any benefitl. And don't overstuff the box with cereal, otherwise you fail on the "egg cannot be stationary" rule.

The next benefit is to minimize the velocity of the impact. A piece of paper will drift back and forth and slowly approach the ground. A rock will not. The rock will hit with a high velocity. What you want is something light with a large horizontal surface area. Make the container as wide and deep as possible (most surface area for wind resistance) but fill it with something lightweight. That is another benefit of cereal. Cereal is light which will keep the impact velocity to a minimum. You could also slow it's decent with other means (such as a parachute, wings, helicopter blades, etc), but those are difficult with such small dimensions.

you put way too much thought into this. did you get beat up a lot in school?

 

[dullard]

you put way too much thought into this. did you get beat up a lot in school?

Only once.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Cereal is light which will keep the impact velocity to a minimum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation#Scientific_revolution

 

[Gibson486]

well...she has learned the first step of american business. When you have a problem you can't do, ask your superior. If your superior does not know, f research, just hire a consultant.

 

[MentalIlness]

Only once.

Parachutes not allowed. When I said stationary, I meant taped...glued to something.

It can be "stationary" with packing around it so to speak.

Container can only be up to 5 inches wide, deep and long.