Egg Safety Vehicle (Egg Drop Project in a car)

[triangle man]

"Egg Safety Vehicle" (Egg Drop Project... in a car!)

Hey! This is my first post so sorry if I do anything against protocol.

I need to design a sort of egg protection vehicle. I will put the egg inside of the car which will in turn be rolled down a ramp and crash into one of my classmate's similar cars. So it's basically the egg drop project, but I will be "jousting" with my classmates.

There are only a few restrictions:
-- Body can be no larger than 6"x6" inclucing wheels (as for height... just not "crazy tall," whatever that means)
-- Body can not be more than half metal, wood, or plastic
-- Car must have a door that can open and close three times without breaking.
-- Car must have a "window" of 1"x1" (can be just a hole)


Oh and it can't consist solely of offensive features because there is an additional test: our teacher will (gently) kick our cars down one flight of stairs. I'm more worried about this test than the jousting.


I was thinking doing something with huge wheels to minimize the impact of my car as it tumbles down the stairs, and was planning to build a soft container for the egg that woule be suspended in oatmeal inside of a hard container.

Thanks!

 

[michaelwoodco]

Yeah why not make huge wheels with weight around the outer rim so your car accelerates slowly down the ramp?
Use the largest dimensions possible to extend the time of impact from every possible angle

probably seat your egg in the middle of the car

 

[jeffc0987]

I'd suggest a harness inside for the egg suspended with rubber bands to the sides of the frame. Gotta make sure they are tight enough to keep it suspended away from the walls when falling down the stairs though. I've seen things kinda like this before for egg drops.

I'd say focus on offense and destroy the others cars before they have a chance to get kicked down the stairs

 

[michaelwoodco]

I'd suggest a harness inside for the egg suspended with rubber bands to the sides of the frame. Gotta make sure they are tight enough to keep it suspended away from the walls when falling down the stairs though. I've seen things kinda like this before for egg drops.

I'd say focus on offense and destroy the others cars before they have a chance to get kicked down the stairs

I'd think you would want something that absorbs the energy, not stores it like a rubber band. If you use a rubber band maybe find a way to create a sliding seat. Use rubber bands to hold it in a neutral position. Then you can use zip ties to make sure the seat will only slide one way. So kindof like a shock absorber if your rebound valve were jammed closed. It would only absorb the energy and not return it.

Of course rubber bands would be better than none because you are extending the time of impact.

 

[triangle man]

Thanks for the pointers! Would the rubber band thing work if my "seat" was a bubble-wrap capsule suspended in oatmeal? I don't think the zip ties would work, as when it is kicked down the stairs, it will be absorbing force from every side and would be required to move in more than one direction to avoid breakage.

The only issue i have with that is that the egg has to be visible at all times, which is difficult to fulfill when it's buried in oatmeal. Would a tunnel from the surface of the box to the center (where the egg is) that does not contain oatmeal hurt the performance? So the egg's "seat" would be the tunnel. Does that make sense?

 

[triangle man]

In case anyone reads this thread, I'm just going to say that I have changed my strategy to a bubble wrap capsule suspended in the middle of the carton and surrounded with cotton. I plan to put a paper cone on each side of the box except for the bottom. We test them Friday; I'll then report my results.

 

[triangle man]

Sorry for the delay, but our teacher put off testing until today -__- We did a preliminary test thing 2 weeks ago, and mine was perfectly fine. Let's hope it works today...