Mastering the Egg Drop Challenge: Tips and Tricks for 3 Egg Success

[Zarquad]

How it's going to happen:
- 1 container with 3 eggs in it (they must be placed individually in ziplock bags)
- Small to medium sized eggs
- 3 back to back drops from 75m
- Get all 3 eggs out within 20 seconds
- The lighter the container WITH the eggs the better

Restrictions:
- No side of the container can be greater than 25cm
- Water or any other liquid based products, such as jello, are not permitted
- Nothing can be on the outside of the container to slow the decent (Parachute, wings, etc). It has to be free falling.
- Eggs must be raw, and can't be soaked in anything
- Eggs can't be frozen
- The floor of the drop area can't be altered (It's cement/tiles or something)


Anyone have any ideas/past success stories?

 

[Simon Bridge]

Presumably you have already done a few single egg drops... how did they work out for you?
The principle is just to make the landing as soft as possible.
That means using the shape of the container to slow decent, having the walls collapse to slow deceleration on impact, and padding the eggs - also to soften impact.

Are you restricted on the number of sides the container can have or what the container can be made out of?

 

[Danger]

Try pulling a search function. There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of posts about this very subject. I suspect that most are in the Homework Help section, but I'm not sure.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Even some below ... i.e.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=371724

 

[Danger]

Hi, Simon;
I didn't mean to ignore you; you sneaked in while I was composing.
By strange coincidence, I started a thread on this problem in General Discussion on April 17th. It lasted for only 3 posts.

 

[Zarquad]

Presumably you have already done a few single egg drops... how did they work out for you?
The principle is just to make the landing as soft as possible.
That means using the shape of the container to slow decent, having the walls collapse to slow deceleration on impact, and padding the eggs - also to soften impact.

Are you restricted on the number of sides the container can have or what the container can be made out of?

I've never done an egg drop project before. There's no restriction on that stuff, but I'd rather not have a "one use" type container, because I'd like to be able to test it before the actual drop without damaging/ruining it.

Try pulling a search function. There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of posts about this very subject. I suspect that most are in the Homework Help section, but I'm not sure.

Alright.

e; It didn't let me do the search, because the word "egg" is too short.

 

[A.T.]

It didn't let me do the search, because the word "egg" is too short.

Use google:
http://www.google.com/#q="egg+drop"+site:physicsforums.com

 

[Simon Bridge]

It didn't let me do the search, because the word "egg" is too short.

You'll need more than one word for your search anyway.
Youtube has a lot of demonstrations - mostly of the single egg-drop. They should give you ideas about ways to cradle the eggs safely.

It is odd that you have to drop three on your first ever attempt. You have to worry about them knocking together.

Since you are not restricted in the number of sides to your container - consider building a geodesic sphere (or just the polygon with the largest number of sides you can manage) - this gives you lots of internal room. With no number-of-sides restriction, your container can be as big as you like.

To test out a one-use container, just make more than one. You could have a stiff reusable cradle for the eggs and a one-use easy-crumple fender.

You can make a container more aerodynamic (so it falls in a preferred orientation) without added fins by running holes through it and adding an off-center mass inside it.

A large, light container does not need a parachute to fall slowly - build out of drinking straws and tissue paper - sheet polystyrene and such-like.

It looks to me like surviving the fall is the easy part - getting the eggs out in the required time is the tricky bit.
I now know how I'd do it - but the point is for you to figure something out for yourself.
Whatever you decide, make sure you can explain the reasoning behind the design so it doesn't look like you just blindly copied someone else.

 

[A.T.]

- 1 container with 3 eggs in it (they must be placed individually in ziplock bags)

Put some additional inflated ziplock bags around the eggs, in a stable plastic box (Tupperware type).

 

[Zarquad]

Simon Bridge, I guess I did word the restrictions as well as I could have. It isn't that a single side can't be more than 25cm, the horizontal distance, from the eastern most point to the western most point can't be greater than 25cm. That applies to the length, width, and height.

Though thanks for the advice (@ everyone), I'll consider it.

e; I just noticed that I said 75m in the first post. The drop is 75ft.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Ah - you meant that the container cannot be more than 25cm wide total ... i.e. it must fit inside a 25cm diameter sphere. 75ft is a much easier drop though. Have fun.

 

[Zarquad]

Just noticed that I said that "I did word" instead of "I didn't word." @__@