Egg Lander Report

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.