How Do You Design an Egg Drop Container That Is Also Crush-Resistant?

[taylor92]

Our instructor has given us the task of coming up with a container to drop an egg from a distance of 30' and not break. Container can't be any larger than 12"x12"x12" and no parachutes or anything that will affect fall/normal gravity. Egg must remain accesible to verify that it hasn't broken. No boiling, soaking, or coating the egg in any way that would alter its physical state. Here is the twist. Once it survives the drop, our instructor witll then drop a small box of books on top of it. The container must also be crush resistant from the top. This is what has me concerned. I don't feel that making a simple egg drop container would be difficult that would protect the egg. Making one that provides both impact protection and being crush proof to protect the egg at the same time has me stumped. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Gokul43201]

What ideas have you come up with (and dismissed) so far?

 

[taylor92]

1st thoughts were something to wrap the egg in (foam padding or bubblewrap) to protect it and place inside of a box. This would more than likely be ok on the fall but not crush proof. My father recommended popcicle sticks glued together around the foam covered egg with some weight added to the box for it to drop flat. However, I forgot to mention our instructor said he would also after dropping them attempt to roll them down our gym bleachers. In this case, you cannot guarantee which side would be up when he does the crush test. If I enclose the egg in some sort of protective case it would be hard to check it after impact for damage. I had also though of making a batch of clear jello and then put the egg inside while it sat up. I don't think he will allow me to bring in 3 jello encapsulated eggs to class. Again, the drop part isn't stumping me as much as making it crush proof from all sides as well...
Thank you for replying to my post.

 

[Unknot]

I did this once, although it was an egg and bunch of plastic straws from third floor.

 

[slider142]

What about the geometry of the situation. Can you think of any shapes that are crush-resistant?

 

[Blenton]

Put the egg in a box and fill it up with that expanding hardware foam they use to fill up gaps in walls.

 

[BobG]

1st thoughts were something to wrap the egg in (foam padding or bubblewrap) to protect it and place inside of a box. This would more than likely be ok on the fall but not crush proof. My father recommended popcicle sticks glued together around the foam covered egg with some weight added to the box for it to drop flat. However, I forgot to mention our instructor said he would also after dropping them attempt to roll them down our gym bleachers. In this case, you cannot guarantee which side would be up when he does the crush test. If I enclose the egg in some sort of protective case it would be hard to check it after impact for damage. I had also though of making a batch of clear jello and then put the egg inside while it sat up. I don't think he will allow me to bring in 3 jello encapsulated eggs to class. Again, the drop part isn't stumping me as much as making it crush proof from all sides as well...
Thank you for replying to my post.

slider is on to something.

The less force the box has to withstand, the better the chances it will withstand the force.

 

[taylor92]

Only balls and pyramids.

 

[taylor92]

My newest idea (or rather my dad's) is putting it in a foam ball and putting wooden pegs around it across from each other that will bump each other when being crushed, preventing it from crushing. But, we have not tested it yet.

 

[BobG]

Only balls and pyramids.

What are the odds the teacher could drop the books so their exact center would land on the tip of the pyramid?

 

[hokie1]

Hummingbird cages create a net that is suspended inside of a box. The suspended net makes it impossible for the captured bird to hit anything hard. Maybe a rigid container with an inner suspended container could do the trick.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

As Hokie says, you want some kind of soft padding within a hard container. Think about how you might accomplish that.

Are there any restrictions on the materials you are allowed to use?