On September 13, 2012,
our class got the opportunity to throw an Egg Lander we spent time designing
and creating for two days down a two-story building. Although it was quite a
fun experience building the Egg Lander with only 20 straws, half a piece of newspaper,
and two pieces of tape the width of the table, unfortunately, each and every Egg
Lander failed. None of the eggs that were held inside survived the impact. Now
why is that?
Our group came up with
numerous ideas when designing. At first, we thought that if we made a pyramid,
when throwing it, the structure would have no problem in determining which side
it must land on. However, we realized that if we made this design, the egg
would have no support and there will be nothing to absorb the shock upon
landing on impact. Then, we came up with the idea of boxing the egg with straws
and using the remaining straws to surround the encasing. However, with this
idea, we thought the problem would be that we would not have enough tape. In
addition, the design must be symmetrical with the same number of straws all
around or else there’s a possibility that when landing, the egg will break.
Finally, our group came up with the idea of a double layered tetrahedron. The
first layer was half the area of the second layer, since it was the section in
which the egg was being held. The second layer has a large base so that when
that it is thrown from the two-story building, there is a very high chance of
it landing on the base, absorbing the shock.
When our Egg Lander was
thrown from the two-story building, we initially thought that the egg would
firmly remain in the encasing, since we surrounded all the empty spaces with
extra straws. However, during the process of falling, the egg slipped out and
fell on the ground, destroying it. Also, before the Egg Lander was thrown, we
shook the egg. In a raw egg that isn’t shaken, the membrane holds down the yolk
at the bottom of the egg. However, when a raw egg is shaken, the membrane will
break, distributing the yolk all around the egg, making the weight even
throughout. In addition, we did not consider the weight of the egg. We assumed
that because it was an egg, it would be light and have no effect on the total
weight of the Egg Lander. However, this was also the reason as to why the
impact was greater than what was expected. Another factor that our group did
not take into consideration is the position in which the Egg Lander would fall
to the ground. We thought that because we made the Egg Lander have a large
base, this would mean that the probability of it falling on the base is quite
high. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Through these careless errors, the
result was a failure. However, understanding these mistakes will lead to how we
could modify the Egg Lander to have a successful result.
Even though our Egg
Lander was one of the two that the majority of the class thought would work,
unfortunately, our egg was destroyed pretty badly. When Mr. Chung examined each
Egg Lander while it was on display, he said that our group should have made the
top section longer. The reason for this is so that upon landing, if the Egg
Lander does not fall on the base, the impact will be shared since the sides
will be covered with a shock factor. Another modification that should be done
is to find a more enclosed casing for the egg. The only support we had was a
holder that perfectly fit the egg, with a few space which were stuffed with
straw and wrapped around with tape. However, there was also a possibility that
during the time of the fall, the straws would come out, loosening the egg from
the capsule, and falling to the ground before the model does.
Through this process of
designing, creating, and experimenting, we are able to learn what we did wrong
and modify these errors, as well as what should have remained the same in order
to put together a successful Egg Lander.