Parachutes and Eggs - DPChallenge Forums

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

04/10/2009 11:20:05 AM · #1

My daughter is in 3rd Grade, Next week they are doing an egg drop experiment. They are going to be throwing the eggs as high as they can off the roof of the school. The objective is to keep your egg from breaking, So the students have to construct some sort of protector to keep their egg from cracking or breaking when it lands on the ground below.

What I am looking for is some advice on parachutes, We have a little foam ball that we removed enough foam from the center to hold an egg, we want to use a parachute to ensure a softlanding with hopes that the foam surrounding the egg will absorb the minimal impact of the landing providing the parachute does what it is supposed to.

Anyone else done the egg drop thing with your kids or do you remember doing it in school? Any advice or 'links to' on small scale parachutes, patterns, materials, building instructions etc. Hopefully easy instructions because my daughter will need to understand a little bit of what we are doing.

thanks in advance,

spiritualspatula

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

04/10/2009 11:25:45 AM · #2

I can't really give you any simple solutions for designs, because when I did this it was an advanced physics course, so would be a bit out of her league. I would say that a great foam for padding, however, is carpet pad. You should be able to get some free scraps from anywhere that installs carpet.
Are there any weight requirements or anything, or is it just "splat or live?"

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

04/10/2009 11:33:08 AM · #3

Egg-carton foam like you see in boxes or sometimes on beds could be a good idea too.

spiritualspatula

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

04/10/2009 11:37:55 AM · #4

Yeah, really, if you aren't really set on your idea already, any combination of closed cell foam on the outside and then open cell foam on the inside will offer excellent cushioning. Styrofoam on the outside would be the ultimate shell material. Of course, you want to keep all of this at the minimum weight so that you don't have to create a super efficient parachute. I also would recommend that you consider who is doing the releasing of the parachute, as this may be critical to its operation and design.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 11:43:23.

drydoc

Canon EOS-7D

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

04/10/2009 11:43:28 AM · #5

Also did this for a NASA class. The egg was dropped off a bridge onto a road way below. About a seven story fall.
My design: Use the egg carton itself. Leave a spot for housing the egg. Cut out around the pod in such a manner as to leave four wings. (Think of the First Star Wars movie and the small fighter ships that were in the battle scene.) This design flutters erratically to the ground. . . essentially breaking the fall. Whatever you decide to do here are a few hints: DO NOT USE JELLO to cushion your egg. It has the opposite affect on impact. The jello compresses and acts like an potato masher. Airplane style floats act erratically because they are dependent on the egg being perfectly balanced.

BOL And please share your results.

They were the Tie Fighters: Here are some of the designs Mine was basically the first with added wings in back and front:
//www.theforce.net/SWTC/tie.html#tief-oct

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 11:51:25.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

04/10/2009 11:45:32 AM · #6

Google search on the keyword of "egg parachute"
What did we do before the internet?

spiritualspatula

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

04/10/2009 11:50:02 AM · #7

Originally posted by drydoc:

It's funny you mention your design. I did a similar thing for one of my designs. It was using cardboard set up like a TIE fighter, with the main wing consisting of super thin plastic and the outside being cardboard, to decrease weight (weight was factored for determining scores) and then I wove a pouch out of string and suspended the egg in the center. Everybody thought it would fail but it glided down about halfway and started to tumble/flutter afterwards. Impact was next to nothing.
My partner produced a second design and his was a big parachute but I don't remember how he made the pattern. I think he used a really thin plastic material as well, and used hole reinforcers everywhere a string attached. The release of his parachute was very critical and I think he held the very center of it, and then as he dropped it, moved his hand down with the whole thing before finally releasing his hold so the parachute could inflate a bit. He had some fouled chute incidents before finding this technique.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 11:50:49.

soup

Canon EOS-30D

04/10/2009 11:55:33 AM · #8

hard boiling the egg might give you a little bit of extra cushion... :)

i'm kidding of course.

KarenNfld

04/10/2009 11:56:30 AM · #9

We did this in high school (over 20 years ago). But we didn't use parachutes, the egg had to be encased in something and it was then dropped from the gym ceiling. The lightest packaging was the winner. Many egss didn't break but the packaging was weighed and like I said, the lightest materials won. The winner had constructed some sort of styrafoam enclosure, it was sort of like a pyramid but open, sort of like 2 triangles intersecting each other. Hard to describe.

drydoc

Canon EOS-7D

04/10/2009 11:56:36 AM · #10

Parachute needs to be made out of a light weight plastic about the size of a dinner plate. You can use an empty toilet paper roll to house the packed chute with six strings attached. The secret in getting the parachute to deploy is dusting it liberally with baby powder. It allows it to slip out and aides visually. Estes rockets might be a good source for this design.

Ohhhh! Almost forgot the most important hint. Fold the parachute into a triangular shape. Then snip of the pointed tip about an eight of an inch or less. This allows the chute to travel in a more direct route down. Otherwise you are going to chase it cross country.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 12:00:40.

04/10/2009 12:08:14 PM · #11

Wow wasn't expecting so many egg droppers to respond this fast. The rules that apply are No Metal, size limit is 8 x 8 x 8 inches, however can be bigger providing it will fold down to the 8x8x8 dimensions, No Staples and No Bubble Wrap.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

04/10/2009 12:14:53 PM · #12

My Google only works for porn. :0

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Google search on the keyword of "egg parachute"
What did we do before the internet?

maynerd12

Nikon D80

04/10/2009 12:15:54 PM · #13

I did this as part of a management training course for a former employer. We had a very short time to design our egg protector and also make a marketing pitch. How well the eggs were protected had almost no bearing on the outcome. We were judged mostly on the marketing pitch. Which I found typical of that former employer - I'm glad they sold the division I work in.

04/10/2009 12:19:20 PM · #14

We were looking at plastic grocery bags or maybe garbage bags for the chute, not sure what to use for the string. thread is strong enough but tangles easy. thanks for the ideas going to give it a go this afternoon.

Originally posted by drydoc:

Medoomi

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM

04/10/2009 12:27:42 PM · #15

Wow, this brings back memories.

We had this task in grade 12 design. Height was only one story, but the egg protector had to be made from one sheet of A3 paper.

I managed it with folding the paper so it cushioned the egg all around, and then using a cone as a flight to make it point the right direction.

Only thing to watch out for with chutes is they often behave erraticly. Make sure you get yourself a design that's stable in the air. That way you'll also know what direction the ground will hit your protective casing :-)

all the best.

drydoc

Canon EOS-7D

04/10/2009 12:28:41 PM · #16

The white, plastic garbage liner bags work best as well as kite string. You won't need anything heavier that that. The tape is the secret. Make sure it is sticky enough to hold onto the bag. You might want to sew it into the plastic then tape the string on both sides. Be sparing in your use of tape. This is also where the baby powder comes in. Making sure that the tape does not accidently stick to the chute's other walls.

If you are looking for another container design, you might try several empty toilet paper rolls tape together around one in the center. The egg would be nestled in the center tube, held loosely by tissue. Think mars lander.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 12:30:01.

PGerst

Canon EOS-20D

04/10/2009 01:33:18 PM · #17

I won my class' egg drop contest. However, ours had a little twist. We weighed the devices for those whose eggs were still in tact. Whoever had the lightest device, won the contest.

I used a styrofoam box. The walls were about 1" thick. The egg fit snug inside the box and was surrounded by one layer of bubble wrap (1cm bubbles).

The runner up, by about 2 grams!, placed their egg in a plastic bag surrounded by balloons. The egg was taped in the center to the closest balloons.

The heaviest contraption was a cardboard box, approximately 2x2x2 feet. The egg was suspended from each of the eight corners with strong elastic bands.

The key in all three designs is shock absorption in all directions.

By the way...I won a big box of gobstoppers!

Paul

Edited Below:
Just read your no bubble wrap comment. No problem, fill in the gaps with styrofoam beads.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 13:35:02.

PGerst

Canon EOS-20D

Olympus 12-45mm f/4.0 Pro

04/10/2009 01:33:57 PM · #18

They let you throw the managers off the roof?!!? Lucky you!

Originally posted by maynerd12:

OdysseyF22

Panasonic DC-G9

04/10/2009 01:40:52 PM · #19

When I did this years ago in grade school, we weren't allowed parachutes. I put my egg in a light cardboard box and completely surrounded it with popped popcorn. It survived the fall just fine, and was one of the top finishers.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

04/10/2009 02:04:27 PM · #20

Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

That's what we did with my son: popcorn! Easy Peasy, filled a plastic grocery gag with popcorn, taped plastic drinking straws on the 3 axes to the egg (to keep it centered in the bag), closed it off with a twist-tie, and dropped it off a 3 story roof. Weighed next to noting, worked fine, totally lo-tech and a winner all the way :-)

R.

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/10/2009 02:10:13 PM · #21

I would avoid tape on the parachute, Just knot the edges in a few areas and use them to tie onto. This avoids the chance of the parachute adhering to itself and shortens up the outside diameter of the 'chute, to help create the dome shape it needs to hold enough air to work. Remember to vent the top of the 'chute.

One idea that hasn't been mentioned is landing feet. I used coat hangers, but any flexible metal rod will work. the idea is to have enough feet coming out in enough directions that they absorb some of the impact of hitting the ground, the springier the feet are the more time you spread the landing shock over, lessening the amount of delta in any given moment.

But if I had heard Roberts idea with the big plastic bag full of popcorn back then, I would have saved alot of time. You know the engineering term KISS? Keep It Simple Stupid. That idea is brilliant.

Message edited by author 2009-04-10 14:14:17.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

04/10/2009 02:11:54 PM · #22

The other advantage of the popcorn method is that you can either eat or compost your project afterwards.

alanfreed

Nikon Z9