Egg Drop Contraption

Another year, another egg drop contraption.

Like last year the goal was to build something that would let an uncooked jumbo egg survive a fall from the roof of my kid’s school onto the hardscrabble below. The rules were a little more strict than I remember them being last Spring but that really wouldn't end up affecting this year’s build.

We went to the Dollar Store to get drinking straws and any other stuff that might be useful. The boy noticed this rubber mesh mat stuff that I guess you could use to line your silverware drawer to prevent loose items from sliding around in there. It was cheap, springy, lightweight, and paintable.

Perfect!

I wanted to use the same box-within-a-box strategy that we used last time but keep it simpler. Since this year the rules expressly forbade using pre-made packing materials of any kind, I supposed foam shock absorbers would be disallowed so the inner box would need to be suspended by strings. A bag suspended within the inner box would hold the egg.

So… A simple shape… Maybe just cubes. But cubes are boring… Unless you play Minecraft like 90% of the kids in his school do… Hmmm…

Thus was born the design you see here. Like the last build, he did the straw cutting and spray painting. I did the glue work. Unlike the last build we did no testing – I didn't want to rebuild the thing multiple times or clean up the egg mess, regardless of how much he enjoyed seeing last year’s prototypes completely fail to save the egg.

And, also unlike last year, the egg smashed to smithereens on impact. I'm guessing the straws didn't have enough give to decelerate the egg just right to prevent its destruction. Good thing I don't design crumple zones for cars, eh?

Congressman: Mr. SnowUrchin. You have been called before this committee to testify as to why your company's 2017 Deathcube LS has a below-five-MPH crash survivability rating of one half of one percent.
Me:  We feel cheapness of materials and “coolness” are way more important than safety. That's why you can buy our cars in six-packs. Frankly, I'm shocked that more people aren't killed just through the act of turning on the windshield wipers. 
Congressman: (pause) I have no response to that.
Me: Can I go now?

For next year’s event the boy has already decided that he was going to team up with some classmates instead of building something at home.

I don't blame him. :)