Design a Freeway Barrier to Stop a Truck & Protect an Egg

[blade88]

Hi, i have a project I am currently working on for school and i have to design a freeway type barrier that can stop a truck and keep an egg from breaking inside the truck. Anyone got any ideas because everything I've tryed so far has been crappy. Here are the rules

Each team shall construct a freeway barrier capable of stopping a truck
preventing the breakage of one USDA large egg.

Teams may use only:

1. one (1) sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheet of 20 lb. paper
2. one (1) one inch strip of scotch tape

Competition guidelines:

* Each team shall consist of 2-3 students.
* Items listed above are THE ONLY materials permitted to solve problem.
* Teams will be provided paper and tape
* Each team is to fashion a suitable freeway barrier out of paper that successfully
brings truck to a complete stop without its cargo (egg) falling off cradle.
* Truck will be rolled down a ramp appoximately 7-1/2" wide by 48" long.
* Ramp rise will be approximately 3-1/2" over 48".
* No tissue, rubber bands, foam or other material may be used.
* Teams will be given three attempts to demonstrate that barrier
successfully brings truck to a complete stop without breaking egg.
* Eggs remaining in cradle will be measured for forward movement.
* Team with the least egg movement over three attempts will be declared winner.
* In case of ties (three successful stops by more than one team)
ramp will be raised one inch and runs repeated until one team has
the least movement with egg remaining in cradle.



Sry if this is in the wrong forum, I am new here and not really familiar with things yet, please move it to the correct forum if needed.

 

[Danger]

Welcome to PF, Blade. I have an idea about that, but I'd really like to hear what you've already tried and along what lines you're thinking. Perhaps your ideas weren't all that crappy after all. Give with the details, already.

 

[wxrocks]

Along with your ideas for a solution --- it might be helpful to know some details about your truck, such as mass, size, where the egg will be, how it is attached, etc.

 

[blade88]

I was thinking of forming some sort of triangluar structure with the paper that will be strong but collapse when the truck hits it absorbing the impact. My group came up with the lazy idea of just wadding the paper up but I am pretty sure that won't work. As for the details about the truck, we are doing the event in class and required to build the structure in class. The teacher hasnt showed us the truck or how the egg is attached so i have no details about the truck. If you would like to share some ideas that would be great

 

[DaConfusion]

I don't know if this will help you but it might spark some ideas:

Back in my high school physics class, we were required to drop a egg from the second story building on to tile floor without breaking it.

My design was simple, 2 sheets of paper and some cardboard for fins.

Wrap one sheet into a pointed cone, wrap a second sheet into a pointed cone that fits in snugly with the second half way. Place the egg inside the 2nd cone and fins on each side and drop it. The first paper crumples and saves the egg, incase there is secondary crumple, the space before the egg absorbs it. And yes it worked. The fins provided insurance that it went down straight and kept the egg sides off the ground after landing.

 

[DaConfusion]

I guess you could try the cone idea, tape it at the back and to the ground and if need be PRE crumple the front. So the pre crumple slows the truck down without moving the egg from its cradle.

So if this is the cone (pretend!)
--------\
--------->
--------/
You could crumple the end to ruin the tip which is the strongest point,
---------\
=======~
---------/

And if its too weak, maybe add more rolls in the center, or too strong then lessen the tightness or add more crumples.
Note this prob will be good for 1-2 uses so if you guys tie, i hope you can re create the device

 

[Francis M]

Blade88, Is there a specific distance the truck has to be stopped in? If not or if there is some distance (travel) to play with then maybe try the idea of decelerating the truck over a distance?

 

[Danger]

That last bit is the way that I was thinking. My idea was to braid paper strips into something similar to what we call 'Chinese handcuffs' (also known as a 'finger puzzle'). It can then act as a compression or extension spring.

 

[anaheimducks]

i've got a similar project to that in science, except some of the rules are different. There are specific measurements:

the car must be :
Length: max: 14 cm
Width: max: 12 cm
Height: max: 12cm

there also has to be seat belts so that the egg will not be crushed when released on a wooden board and smashed into a wall.

can someone give me ideas? on how to make the car very safe?

 

[Danger]

Welcome to PF, Duckie.
This is yet another example of "necro posting", wherein a long-dead thread is resurrected. It happens a lot, but is frowned upon. Generally, you should start a new one when a topic occurs to you.
As for your predicament, take a good look at the safety measures built into modern cars. (Think restraint, crush zones, etc..)