Period 5
Date started: September 12, 2013
Initial Design
The initial design of my egg drop structure was three car wash sponges stacked up on top of one another and secured together with about 10 rubber bands. My hypothesis was that the egg would survive the drop because of all of the cushioning from the sponges and the sponges would stay secured tightly because of the strong hold that the rubber bands have. I constructed my initial design by first making a hole in the middle sponge for the egg to fit into. Then, I stacked all three sponges on top of one another with the sponge that would have been holding the egg in the middle. After that, I secured the sponges with a bunch of rubber bands. I ended up changing my mind of this design because the mass seemed to large and the rubber bands were squeezing my sponges too tight. Below is a sketch of my initial design.
Final Design and Modifications
For my final design, I got rid of one car wash sponge and used pre-wrap to secure the sponges instead of the rubber bands. I modified my design to better survive the 20 feet drop by making it lighter and less constrained. I did that to give my egg more cushioning room and less weight on the structure. This turned out to be a pretty successful design.
Data
The mass of my structure with the egg inside was 117 grams. The mass of my structure without the egg was an amazing 51.31 grams. I divided 2,000 by the mass and multiplied my answer by 10-since my egg did not break or crack. My score came out to a whopping 389 points-which is equivalent to an A.
Testing
Test #1: I threw my structure with an egg in it about 10 feet in the air. It was successful with no cracks or leakage. (See below)
Test #2: I threw my structure down the steps and it was still effective. Again, there were no cracks or leakage. (See below)
Final Test: I threw my structure about 20 feet in the air-just as Ms. Janik did for my final test. Both mine and Ms. Janiks tests proved my structure to be effective. My egg did not break nor crack. (See below)
The purpose of having multiple tests on my structure was to make sure that everything was working correctly and that it would continue to work under different extremes. With each test, I made the drop even higher than the one before. I did this until I eventually tested my structure out with the exact same method Ms. Janik was using for my final test. After all of the tests proving my structure to be successful, I was ready to test for a grade.
My structure did not make the egg break because it was very cushioning and durable. The sponges held my egg in place while still giving it a light, cushioning fall. The light weight of my sponges were the key to my success for this project.
If I could change my design in any way I would make it smaller and more daring. I would like to test my knowledge of how far and dangerous I can go with my structure. I should have been more creative and original.
