Egg Container Experiment

Neither Olivia nor I had ever done this kind of experiment before, so at first, we had no idea where to start. We spent several minutes brainstorming ideas before deciding that placing one container inside another, with padding provided by cotton balls, shredded paper, and cardboard in between, would create a package that would absorb the force of an impact. To start with, we wrapped the egg in paper towel and taped it securely. Then, we cut the bottom halves off of two plastic bottles, placing the egg inside one and inverting the other over the egg. Our next step was the cut off the bottom half of a large one gallon jug and line it with cotton balls and tissue paper. We placed a piece of cardboard over the lining on the bottom before adding even more cotton balls, tissue paper, paper towels, and shredded paper as padding. The small container with the egg in it was then put in the jug so that it rested snugly within all of this padding.

            After all of this, we realized that no matter how much padding we used, it would not be enough to help the egg withstand a big impact. Thus, we decided to attach a parachute. We punched two holes into the plastic jug, put a smaller grocery bag inside of another, attached it to the jug, and then tested the container – only to discover that the parachute did not work at all. Olivia and I realized that the parachute did not cover enough surface area and was therefore unable to significantly slow down the package. So, we removed the garbage bag parachute and decided to use a larger, thicker garbage bag that Olivia had found. Furthermore, rather than opening up the bag, we chose to use the bag as a parachute in its folded, rectangular form. We reinforced the four corners of the bag using masking tape before punching holes in each corner, punching two more holes in the jug, and attaching the bag-parachute via connected hair ties.

            We tested the container several times – without the egg, of course – by dropping it from a stair railing as well as out of a second floor window in Trowbridge Hall. We were ecstatic to find that the parachute worked extremely well! Finally, we placed the egg back amongst all of the padding in the jug and sealed off the open top with a piece of cardboard.

            Testing the container during class proved to be just as successful as it had been when we tested it on our own. Olivia and I had initially been slightly worried that the parachute would malfunction because it was rather windy outside, but the package ended up working perfectly, surviving falls out of both a second and third story window.

Olivia's blog can be found at http://voicethroughdesign.blogspot.com/.