Creating an Egg Drop Device for Physics/Engineering Assignment

[briguy2188]

First of all I would like to apologize if I am posting in the wrong forum. I couldn't really decide if this belonged in the general physics, homework, or engineering forums since it involves principles of physics, is technically an assignment, and also has to do with engineering.

Anyways, yes, I have to create and egg drop device that will obviously prevent an egg from breaking. There are some parameters that have been set, however. They are:
-the device cannot be dropped...it must be tossed horizontally over a railing and drop a distance of about 2 stories.
-the device has to be the light and small as possible
-since we are studying momentum and impulse, the device must bounce...higher the bounce the better

the winner is determined by whomever has the best combination of the lightest wieght, the smallest size, and the greatest height of bounce, and of course if the egg lives or not.

i think i have a pretty good idea as to how to create the egg's container, i just don't know how to make it bounce, and the fact that i have to throw it complicates things. one idea of mine is to use one of those mini basketballs, but it won't bounce unless there is air in it. anyone else have an ideas?

 

[Astronuc]

Something like a basket ball - fairly rigid to convert the kinetic energy into mechanical energy for the recoil - and the egg could be secure in layers of bubble wrap.

A ball like a plastic beach ball would be insufficiently rigid, and if the ball is too large air resistance would reduce the kinetic energy available for recoil.

One could attach the egg's container to 'bounceable' ball.

One would have to weight different balls to see which one is lightest and which one is bounciest.