Hello readers,
Today we are going to be exploring quite a fun little project. I am sure you all have heard about the infamous ‘Egg Drop Challenge’ that many people partake in. If not, don’t worry and let me tell you all about it. The aim of this challenge is to design and develop creative and effective contraptions that surround an egg and prevent it from cracking when dropped from heights. This objective should be achieved through cost effective and simple solutions. There are many variations and rules that people follow when doing this challenge. The ones I followed are- 1) The contraption should weigh less than 2 kilograms. 2) The egg should be easily visible/accessible for checking.
Lets explore a few of the contraptions i built for this challenge.
Contraption 1- The Red SpongeBoB
This contraption can be built fairly quickly and cheaply. All you require to build this are 2 sponges larger than the egg, 6-10 rubber bands, a knife or scissors and a marker. The first thing to do is outline the cross section of the egg which has the largest perimeter with a marker(A.1). This is used to indicate the size of the hole you need to cut in which the egg will sit. Measuring the distance from the edge to the middle of the egg is required to determine the depth of the cut needed to be added to the sponge. Using a knife or a scissor, the dimensions of the egg from the sponge should be carefully cut out(A.2). This process should be repeated with the other sponge(A.3). Placing the 2 sponges together and securing the contraption with rubber bands makes sure that the egg stays in place(A.4). With that, The Red SpongeBoB is ready to be dropped.
Contraption 2- The Straw SpikeBall
The straw spike ball is definitely the most intricate build of them all. . To build this, you’ll need straws and tape. Yep, that’s it. It consists of a inner triangular prism of straws which securely hold onto the egg and protruding Straw Spikes that work to absorb the impact. To build this, firslty, draw out the dimensions of the egg on a piece of paper and then work out the angles and length of straws (using trigonometry would be easiest) to ensure the egg is properly secured. After the inner prism is built, the straw sticks should be attached to each side of the contraptions to act as the “shock absorbers” of the fall. These can directly be taped onto the prism. Note: More rigid/thicker straws would work better.
Contraption 3- The Paratrooper
The paratrooper is the most fun contraption in my opinion. The building materials required are- A rectangular cloth, 4 pieces of similar length string and a cup. Firstly, Use scissors to cut 4 small holes at each corner of the cloth. Tie a durable string (such as cloth) onto each corner of the cloth. Make sure the strings extend to rougly the same lenght from the cloth. Next, make 4 holes at 90 degrees from another in a paper cup. Thread the 4 strings though the 4 holes in the paper cup and tie the oppositely placed strings to one another. Place the egg inside the cup to complete The Paratrooper.
FINAL BUILDS
This was just the building of the contraptions for the Egg Drop challenge. Now for the fun part, I will test these out to their limits by dropping them from great heights to crown the Best Egg Drop Contraption. To see results where I drop these from a single story all the way upto 6 story heights, click on the link below. I’ll see you all there. 👇