Egg Project


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Hi everyone,

At school, I need to do a project where we take a raw egg, and make a contraption out of hot glue and toothpicks. It can't be over 70g.

Anyone have any ideas?

dk

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I assume this is a drop test. The trick is to reenforce the shell so that the impact is spread out over the entire shell and there is no single point of impact.

When I did it I hollowed out a styrofoam duck decoy (for irony). They dropped it from the forth floor, and it didn't break.

Just hot glue and toothpicks? Arg, it has gotten tougher over the years. You should post images when you are done. I might just do this for fun with my kid.

BH

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Yep...just glue and toothpicks...Its a drop test from 15 ft.....Now, I just need to know the phyics, etc, on how to assemble it.

Spaz, you take some toothpicks, and hot glue..Then make something out of that to make an egg not break from 15 feet up.

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TT75 has a great thing going. Showing you exactly how you need to make the egg land. The easiest thing to do in this case it predict the end result. Try to map out the steps to getting the egg landing upright as opposed to a vunerable side. Is there a limit to toothpicks? You could actually use a minimal amount, but just enough to handle the impact of the drop instead of the egg...

Try glueing the toothpicks in a circular motion around the top (skinner) part of the egg and spiral down with the toothpicks. This should transfer the enegry of the drop through out the egg...(kinda like a tight, tight staircase)

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Which one is the vunerable side? lol

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Yeah...i was running with my thoughts then. Not the top or the bottom of the egg, but the sides...i mean you squeeze an egg from the top and the bottom and you can't break it, but from the sides it shatters...

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OK, it's sneaky, I can't help it......I would start with coating the egg entirely with the hot glue :thumbsup: But if you consider this, you better check with your teacher, first!!!

And as far as eggs go, there is a bubble of air in the narrow end--if you hold the egg up to a bright light, you can see it. Don't know if that would help...but maybe the Physics Experts here can work something with that

Liz

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Does the weight limit include the toothpicks? If so you will need to limit the amount of them. Arranging the toothpicks as I have shown would allow minimal amounts. Where the egg is cradled use an octagonal shape with the exterior of the cage being trapezoidal. It's been so long since I messed with an egg by not having it break (rocket launched). I think if the small end of the egg is pointed down the cushion of air helps stop it from bursting. Put a couple of drops of hot glue where the egg sits in the cradle, top and bottom.

Build one and test it by dropping out of a second floor window onto a hard surface (plywood?). Let got if it with the larger bottom area of the trapezoid hitting first.

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I would start with coating the egg entirely with the hot glue

I was thinking of that too ;)

I heard some people soaked it in vinager, but I dunno if we're allowed, or if it'll help

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Vinegar does make the egg rubbery. Used to do that as a kid. BUT, Vinegar isn't on the list of ingredients--those kids might get "F"s for not following the directions! Oh, and if I remember right, the egg is heavier after soaking.

AND make sure you check with your teacher first, before attempting anything sneaky. I became an expert at checking first, and when the teacher said "no", I'd say, "but you said......"....and sometimes I would get my way! ;)

Liz

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boy oh boy look at all the fun i missed today. i had to do this in school too except we could only use tooth picks and hot glue. nothing else.

here's another link and it's got several good links on the bottom of that page.

http://users.adelphia.net/~jberger5/eggdrop.html

try to surround the egg as much as possible, you don't want any movement at all. put more weight on what you wan to the bottom so that you know what side will land first. place the egg long ways up and down. try to use lots of shape acculativve designs like lots of the hexagonal foam parts from egg cartons for example. that way the stack and distribute the force over greater area. think about widening the bottom of your design so to slow down the decent. are parachutes allowed? one time i made a really wide quarter spear shape entirely out of tooth picks and glue and wrapped with tishupaper. then i hung the egg encased in a single carton section from an egg carton. i hung it in the exact middle of the shape. then i cut 3 small hole vents that were high on one end and low on the other side of the hole. i used glue to hold the shape of the holes. it cased it to drop straight down very slowly. it looked like a flying saucer. sorry for talking so much but i could do stuff like this all day.

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Yep, first thing I thought of was to hot glue the egg!!! (partially cooking it maybe?).

As for the air bubble...I think old eggs have less of an air cushion.

Toothpicks all around facing downward from narrow end to fat end close to shell, then make a wider cage of picks not touching the previous one, and then attach lateral toothpicks from one set of toothpicks to the other to hold the egg in sort of a suspension perhaps? :unsure:

Question: What type of toothpicks can you use? Rounded ones might be stronger, or flat rounds, but those skinny ordinary sliver ones even break off in your teeth so I wouldn't put much faith in them. But whatever type you do use, try several stores for different brands to find best ones.

I bet they have to be wooden toothpicks though, not the (colored) plastic party picks which may be the strongest of all.

Good luck with the project.

Then sometime after this project comes the baby (egg) to take care of over a weekend for a couple, not necessarily a couple in real life either, which adds to the angst. That project several years ago was just such a "joy" for a couple of teenagers I know! :rolleyes: (they flunked by having egg fall and wedge itself between the bucket seats of car on Monday morning on way to school to turn it in. Grrrr!!! They were so :angry2:

Pat.

God bless everyone.

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LOL, Pat, you reminded me of when Son had to take care of an egg. He named it Moses.....why??? Who knows, he is the eccentric of the family.....and.....he broke it....but thankfully before it started to smell.

DK, if your prototype doesn't work, I just now thought of something----Picture an egg wearing an upside-down top hat....if there is enough weight (gobs of glue is our friend!) to make it land "brim side down", it might cushion the fall.

Liz

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I am definitely interested in trying this experiment myself...just for my knowledge...and possibly help you before you project is done...lol...I feel like doing this at work...(stupid job taking away from the fun egg dropping experiment)

I had a project in JR High, where i had to mix different liquids with out mixing them...with the help of some food coloring...worked out great...i think the liquids were...

Water

Veggie Oil

Milk

Grease (baking)

Edited by Vile_DR
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Cool!

I have till oct. 28th to finish it. :)

How'd you mix the stuff without mixing it lol?

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Used a paper funnel (3 different) and a spoon...it was awesome...i'll have to see if i have the notes in a box some where...and post it...and plus each one of the liquides have different density levels...so after finding out which had what...it was just a matter of not mixing them, but setting the liquid on top of each other...

Edited by Vile_DR
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