Experiment Egg

By Rohan, Harrison, Josh, and Anoop

Question: What is the effect of eggs dropped with different parachutes and contraptions?

Rationale: We did this because if people fall off air planes, helicopters, or any other aircraft then
they have the correct kind of parachute/contraption. We are trying to make the egg survive.

The egg simulates a human.

Our Hypothesis: The wider and lighter the parachute the better the egg will survive.

What we know from our research:

Drop Heights

We learned that if the egg is dropped on a cushioned surface from below 60 cm, then it will not crack. If it
is dropped from 60 cm or above on a cushioned surface, then it will crack. If it is dropped on a non-
cushioned surface, then the results are a lot different. If it is dropped from only 15 cm or above, then it will
crack. It will need to be dropped from below 15 cm. All that data is without a parachute. So, when we add
a parachute to it, we will be able to drop it from much higher, and not break it. We will try it first with
dropping it in water. We will drop it from a small height and see how far it goes in the water. Using that,
we can find out the velocity of the egg. So, then we can figure out if our parachute should be big or small.
The terminal velocity of an egg is 55.6 feet per second, so we want the parachute to reduce the speed of
the egg by at least 50%.

Parachute

So, when we are going to make our contraption, we will need to contain the egg in such a way that it will
not fall off and break, or so it will not come lose and ruin the parachute/contraption. If we use a parachute
then it will end up in a 100% win, but if the parachute has only some bit of problems then it wouldn’t work,
because if the parachute doesn’t really slow down the fall of the egg, then the parachute wouldn’t be safe
for a real human to go in and escape a plane/any aircraft. We think that if we use soft materials then it
would work out in a sucess because it would slow the fall, causing for the parachute to slow down in the
air and land softly. And then if the parachute can slow the fall, it will end up in a success even I f the egg
falls from about 5 inches, we will be fine. The egg will need to be tightly closed in the basket for the
parachute the eggs from a bit off the ground. We also need some cushioning for the egg to absorb the
shock of hitting ground. Our goal is to have the egg survive and simulate that say, a plane’s going for a
crash landing, the models that would really our society and not allow people to lose their family because
of a plane crash landing. If the parachute is just right for the egg, then it will slow the egg down and allow
a slow and steady egg drop. We’ll also make the parachute the right size, by dropping the egg into a cup
of water, and determine how fast the one egg drops. And we might make a design that looks similar to a
“TIE Fighter” and those have metal things on the side (plates) so if they hit the ground, they(plates) would
absorb the shock of hitting ground.

Contraption

The contraption will hold the egg and will most likely be made up of cups. The eggs will be in the cups
and the cups will make it so that the egg will not touch the ground. We want to create a contraption that
can hold the egg, so it won’t fall out of the contraption. It is technically cheating because the egg never
touches the ground, but we don’t care. We found that the bigger the parachute the better, but the bigger
the contraption the worse. We want the contraption to be as small and light as possible.

Sites we used for research: https://sciencing.com/make-egg-survive-20foot-drop-8293632.html

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/science-websites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOMW3hplSpI This is a good video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsnyl8llfH4

Materials:

1.) String

2.) Eggs

3.) Plastic cup(s)

5.) Garbage bag

6.) Tape

7.) Cotton balls

Materials; reasons:

1.) String for attaching the parachute to the contraption

2.) Eggs to drop

3.) Plastic cup(s) to hold the egg

5.) Garbage bag for the parachute

6.) Tape to hold pieces together and to fill holes

7.) Cotton balls to cushion the egg

Steps of our experiment:

1.) Write the Rational, question, the steps, and the affect.

2.) Draw drafts of models

3.) Punch holes in cups and form cup base.

4.) Cut materials to form parachute.

5.) Punch holes in parachute.

6.) Attach cups and parachute.

7.) Put eggs in cups.

8.) Test the parachute/contraption.

9.) Take video of each test of the egg drop.

10.) Record results on Project Paper.

11.) Contact experts.

12.) Write the conclusion

Our Results:

name Model(s) Round one result Round two result (if

there was a round 2)

Anoop Cracked. I hadn’t TIE Fighter: The TIE

“The Plane” planned far ahead Fighter had done it! It
enough, I thought I worked probably
was going to be able because there were
to throw my plane but two layers of plates, so
drop it and the plane the plates fell off but
failed. the egg was safe.

Josh
“The Bullet” My egg survived
because I used cotton
balls to cradle the egg,
the cup to take the
impact/force.

Rohan
“The Superbowl” Intact egg
I think that my egg
survived because I put
cups on the outside, it
took energy to break
the cups, so no energy
left to break the egg.
The cotton balls
helped too.

Harrison 1. The Water Portal: Did not crack. I was Cracked.

2. The Simple Start-off surprised because I I thought that water
only put a little cotton might help the egg
balls, yet somehow it survive. Turns out NO.
survived The egg and water
broke through the cup,
so it just broke.

Conclusion:
By looking at our results, it’s clear that our original hypothesis was a mix. Our original hypothesis was that t he
wider and lighter the parachute, the better the egg will survive. We found out that the wider and lighter
parachute did increase the chances of the egg surviving, but only by a little bit. One way we know the
outcome for our hypothesis is a mix is because one model that Harrison made had a very small
parachute, and very thin parachute, yet it survived. Rohan did not even have a parachute, yet it still
survived. Josh had a very BIG parachute. Yet it STILL survived. We think that all these models survived
because the parachute did not affect the egg at all, and even if it did, just barely. Another interesting thing that
happened was that the water in the “Water Portal” did not help at all. We think this was because the force of the
water broke through the cup, causing the egg to break through the cup and crack. The real things that really
helps us in our contraptions/parachutes was the cushining. In conclusion, it turns out that you don’t use water,
and if you want your parachute to greatly affect the egg, then it will need to be flat, and big. If we were to do this
again, two things we would change would be to try different contraptions and try more on our parachutes.