What would be the best material in an egg drop competition?

Question

I was thinking memory foam, but is there any other ideas out there

There are a few restrictions, it has to be at the most 12 by 12 inches, and no parachutes

I'm pretty sure everyone's egg will survive, so the winner is based on the math behind it, and the total weight of the pod

Answer 1

It's actually pretty simple given the constraints you listed.

Get some styrofoam coffee cups ... put a small weight in the first one and then nest 3 or 4.. Score the cups a bit so that they can split open. put the egg, wrapped in cotten in the 4th one and then add a couple of more cups.. You can use a rubber band to hold them in place if you have to.

Flare out the last up to make some fins to help keep it pointed down and drop it.

The weight and fins keep the cups pointed down and, on impact they compress much like the bumper on a car. The energy is dissipated by the compression and the egg should remain intact.

Since different egg sizes yield different results, experiment a bit to find the right number of cups and scoring, but it works like a charm. You can also punch some holes in the buttom of each cup to play with the air compression / release factors.

good luck

Answer 2

Try Jello. Make a mould out of a basketball. Cut the basketball in half. Use a string to suspend the egg over the centre of the cut ball. Fill it up with jello. Make sure only half of the egg is suspended in the mould. Wait for it to solidify. cover the surface with Silicon and wait for solidification. Take it all out. Now, pour in the jello into the empty half again and take the solidifed half with the half suspended egg and turn it over. So that the egg is down. Place it on top of the new jello mold. Wait until solidification. And voila. You have an egg suspended in a jello cushion. Maybe if mix in some sand or sawdust into the jello. It will hold better or smear the outside surface of the jello cushion with Silicon. So that it hold together well.

Answer 3

Solution 1.) Place the egg at the bottom center of a 12" X 12" piece of one sided corrugated board and then roll the board around the egg to create a cylinder. Close cylinder with glue or rubberbands. I have seen this solution work.

Solution 2.) Form a piece of soft modelling clay into a pyramid with an indentation at the top to receive the point of the egg. Place the point of the egg into the indentation. The clay deforms upon impact absorbing sufficient force to protect the egg. This was the professor's most elegant solution.

Answer 4

I like the jello idea - I used that as a cushion during an egg drop one year... The basketball idea sounds pretty complicated, I just used a large plastic margarine tub (with a cover) and suspended my egg in the center of that while I solidified jello around it. My egg kept floating to the tops, so I would push it back down every few minutes until the jello was viscous enough to prevent that.

If you do choose to use jello - put the whole thing inside a large Ziploc bag. My egg survived just fine, but jello did splatter out of the edges of my container.

Answer 5

Memory foam is heat activated, so it's not going to compress instantly to adsorp impact. Jello may be too soft, but not a bad idea.

Why not use large margarine container. Scoop out half the margaine, put the egg, in and cover it with the margarine. It'd be $3 at the store and will take you no time at all.

Answer 6

depending upon your restrictions you can build a 3 or 4 blade propeller and suspend the egg from below then simply drop and let it autogyro down to the ground. I did this in high school and was pretty successful, egg didn't break but one of my propellers broke.

Good luck

Answer 7

It depends on the rules. Memory foam sounds favorable, but you need to think about mass and surface area, since slowing the drop may help as much as the material itself.

Answer 8

As a little cheaper alternative, thick foam rubber always does the trick. Be creative with the design too, I wrapped mine like an xmas present!

Answer 9

umm...i used the whole jello thing for our egg drop in physics. it works but you have to be careful not to make the egg brittle and drop it at the right angle otherwise it cracks a little bit.. other than that it worked pretty good.

Answer 10

Powdered eggs? ☺


Doug