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Our project began when Carston issued us the challenge. It was to create an "egg protection vehicle" or EPV using only a limited kit of materials. The object of the EPV was to preserve an egg from a one-meter drop to the floor. Our information sources were our mentors, Carston, Tom, and Mike, our teacher, Ms. Watts, a formal outline of the challenge (see Appendix A), and our team, Kevin Housley and Caroline Ellis. We were also told what tools and methods we would be allowed to use and were given a standard kit of material. We took inventory of the kit (see Appendix B).
Secondly, we conducted various experiments on eggs to learn more about their structural integrity. As a class we measured the lengths, widths, circumferences, and 1 mass of a dozen grade-A eggs. We observed that the eggs fell into a fairly narrow range of dimensions. After recording our measurements, we devised a series of crush tests to see which side of the average egg is strongest. All of the tests involved lowering a twenty-pound weight down onto the egg. The weight was suspended from a scale so that we were able to calculate the amount of force being placed upon the egg. We recorded the weight at which the egg was crushed in each test. The egg was held vertical between two plastic pop caps in Test A. Test B was the same except the pop caps were replaced with foam rings. Test C was conducted with the egg on its side. The three eggs that were submitted to Test D were placed at various orientations with only a single foam ring placed under them. Our measurements are recorded in Appendix C.
Next, our team brainstormed ideas for our EPV. After sorting through several rather wild ideas, we selected three more reasonable plans and made sketches of them. The first sketch included the egg wrapped in tissue and cotton suspended below a drag system. The second was more compact. It had the straws made into coils and wrapped around the egg inside the tissue and newspaper. Our third plan consisted of a tripod made from the straws with a tag board base for the egg. See Appendix D for all three sketches. We decided to go with our first plan because it seemed crucial to us that we have a drag system to keep the EPV oriented properly. It also appeared to have sufficient padding to protect the egg on impact. We then had to make more detailed plans of our construction process and the performance features of the design. The construction plans were very important because I: we had only two days to build our EPV. Without complete and organized instructions we would not have been able to finish within the time limitation. We also described the key concepts of our design. These included its drag system, shock absorbent cylinders, and cotton padding. Refer to Appendix E for further information.
Another very important step was drawing a schematic of our design. We used the design to make sure we both understood what we wanted to build and to explain our plan to our classmates for a design review. The schematic shows a couple of views of the EPV so that it is easy to understand. It also proved very useful when it was time to build. See Appendix F for the schematic. When each team was ready, we took a day to review each other's designs. The event was quite beneficial for some because other people were able to find mistakes or risks that they had missed during their original planning. Our group was cautioned about the dangers of our EPV tipping over after it hit the ground. Unfortunately, we did not do anything to protect against this risk. "One of our last stages of planning was to revise our construction plans and our schematic. We merely made slight changes to the schematic (see Appendix F). Our construction steps, however, needed much more work. Consult Appendix G for our final construction plans. Finally, we made a bill of materials describing what amounts of the kit we used. This bill proved that our EPV could be build from the standard kit. Refer to Appendix H for the bill of materials.
When our EPV was dropped, it fell vertically and hit on the appropriate side. After first impact the egg portion of the design tipped over and the left side of the egg hit the ground. The impact of the second hit was too great and it fractured the eggs shell. Our design was successful in getting the unit to land on the padded end, but there was not enough padding on the sides to protect it when it tipped over. Another weakness was that the newspaper cylinders which were supposed to crumple on impact were too stiff and did little good.