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Problem/Question

Have you ever thought how your head is like a egg? If not then you should because if an egg falls it will break and if you hit your head you will get hurt. That is why I am doing an egg drop to see how to keep an egg safe while dropping it so I can learn how to keep my head safe when I go rollerblading. What materials would be the provide the best cushion to keep the egg safe during a drop?

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Explore/Hypothesis

A helmet covers my head when I go rollerblading. I tried on a big helmet with some cushion and it didn’t fit me well and I don’t think it would have kept my head safe. I wore a tighter helmet that had cushion and I felt like it would keep my head safe if I fell. I think that if I build an egg drop that has a lot of cushion and fits correctly around the egg then the egg will not break during the drop. When testing materials I think that the packing peanuts will provide the most protection.

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Design/Plan

I will test my hypothesis first by building an egg drop using the different materials for cushions. After testing the materials I will make my final egg drop design to see if it keeps the egg safe.

First cushion design: cotton pads

Second cushion design: styrofoam peanuts

Third cushion design: cloth

After I test those materials I will use the results to build my perfect egg drop.

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Materials

Plastic Tupperware Container - quantity 1 Cotton pads - quantity 100* Styrofoam peanuts - quantity 50* Cloth (towel) - quantity 1* Eggs- quantity 12 6 ft Ladder Measuring tape *these quantities might change depending on my redesign

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Create/Procedure

Open plastic container and fill with material 1. Place egg inside container with material surrounding it Climb the ladder, hold container over head. And drop container Open up container to see if the egg survived Repeat step 1-4 with material 2 and material 3 Use results to build a final egg drop combining the 3 materials Repeat steps 2-4 and record results

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Improve/Test

After testing the materials I decided to still use all three to build the egg drop. I put the cloth inside the container but around the edges. The I put styrofoam peanuts at the bottom and added cotton pads covering the peanuts. Then I put egg in the container and covered it with the pads, peanuts, and cloth.

Engineer Drawing

The lid to the container didn’t close very good so next time I would try flattening the peanuts to make it more secure. Also I wouldn’t add as many cotton pads since they aren’t as safe as the peanuts

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Material 1: cotton pads

Results: the egg cracked

Material 2: Styrofoam Peanuts

Results; the egg was protected

Material 3: cloth

Results: the egg cracked

Data

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Data

After testing mattieral 1 (cotton pads), material 2 (styrofoam peanuts), and material 3 (cloth) the following results happened: Material 1 - did not protect the egg Material 2- did protect the egg Material 3 - did not protect the egg All 3 materials were then used to make an egg drop. The egg was protected by all three materials. However the way the materials were put into the container made it difficult to close the lid. The materials had to be moved around and some had to be removed. If I wanted to make a more stable egg drop I would flatten the peanuts, and use less cotton pads. That would help keep the lid secure and the egg protected.

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Share/Conclusion

In conclusion the more cushion the egg had the more it was protected from the drop. My hypothesis was proven because I thot the peanuts would work the best and they did.

Final Egg Drop: The egg was protected

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Real World Connection

It connected to the real world because the egg is like my head. When I go bike riding my head needs to be protected so it won’t get hurt. Engineers have to test different materials to see what protects the best for our heads. I tested to see what would be best for the egg. A helmet with more cushion would be the best protection just like my egg drop with lots of cushion.