Phoebe's Egg Drop
It's that time again, the first grade class at Remington Point Elementary is dropping eggs from a 2-3 story crane. To (hopefully) avoid a real mess, the kids are building vehicles to house the eggs & with any luck, at least some of them will remain whole upon impact.
Phoebe's vehicle is a similar design to her sister's (successful) vehicle two years ago; below are the details & below that are (or will be) pictures of her entry. If we get a chance, there will be a video of the drop as well.
Phoebe's vehicle is a similar design to her sister's (successful) vehicle two years ago; below are the details & below that are (or will be) pictures of her entry. If we get a chance, there will be a video of the drop as well.
Water beads are always fun to use; a tiny 3g packet grows to almost 1 quart, so we used 6 packets (7x7x7 is 343 cubic inches or 5.93 quarts). Since they are basically plant food, the mess made does not need to be cleaned up. The original plan called for the egg (in the baggie) to be suspended in pudding in a peanut butter jar which would be suspended in the waterbeads in a 7"x7"x7" plywood box. We modified it to have sawdust in the pudding to make sure that the egg doesn't shift too much on impact.
We also originally were using small wood brackets to attach the plywood sides together, but the stress kept popping them apart (we want it to smash open, just not before it hits the ground!). Since the brackets didn't work, we switched to masking tape & simply painted the tape to match so it wouldn't stand out. At the time of this writing, it has not been dropped yet, so we're hoping the tape gives on impact!
We had planned to fill the box the night before so that we could paint the final tape that holds the last panel in place long before it is taken to school, but last night we tested leaving the beads out of the water all night & I'm afraid they shrank just enough that there could be a void in the box, so we'll have to get up early in the morning to do final assembly & paint.
We also originally were using small wood brackets to attach the plywood sides together, but the stress kept popping them apart (we want it to smash open, just not before it hits the ground!). Since the brackets didn't work, we switched to masking tape & simply painted the tape to match so it wouldn't stand out. At the time of this writing, it has not been dropped yet, so we're hoping the tape gives on impact!
We had planned to fill the box the night before so that we could paint the final tape that holds the last panel in place long before it is taken to school, but last night we tested leaving the beads out of the water all night & I'm afraid they shrank just enough that there could be a void in the box, so we'll have to get up early in the morning to do final assembly & paint.
3/27 AM update:
Phoebe and I started finishing it at 6:30, we strained the water beads and packed the jar in them in the box. Then I taped the lid and painted the tape - it was too cold outside for the paint to dry in time, so we put it in the laundry room with the exhaust fan on. We also got some pictures of it and with Phoebe holding it - she held it close to her because it weighs over 9 pounds! The drop is at noon, I'll update again when I hear the results!
Phoebe and I started finishing it at 6:30, we strained the water beads and packed the jar in them in the box. Then I taped the lid and painted the tape - it was too cold outside for the paint to dry in time, so we put it in the laundry room with the exhaust fan on. We also got some pictures of it and with Phoebe holding it - she held it close to her because it weighs over 9 pounds! The drop is at noon, I'll update again when I hear the results!
3/27 PM update:
Unfortunately Phoebe's mom could not attend (so no pictures or video of the drop), but according to both Phoebe's teacher and Phoebe, the box exploded spectacularly, throwing little water beads everywhere! Apparently her peers were quite impressed! Her teacher commented on how messy the pudding/sawdust mixture was, but the egg was intact! Yay physics!!
Unfortunately Phoebe's mom could not attend (so no pictures or video of the drop), but according to both Phoebe's teacher and Phoebe, the box exploded spectacularly, throwing little water beads everywhere! Apparently her peers were quite impressed! Her teacher commented on how messy the pudding/sawdust mixture was, but the egg was intact! Yay physics!!
3/27 PM update 2:
Phoebe and I went back to the school after work - wow! They weren't kidding when they said it exploded! I measured from one end of the water beads in the field to the other & it was 40 feet! I expected to find a pile of them (after all, we used over 5 quarts!), but they were so dispersed that there was only one little area where there were a lot of them! I added pictures from our visit below:
Phoebe and I went back to the school after work - wow! They weren't kidding when they said it exploded! I measured from one end of the water beads in the field to the other & it was 40 feet! I expected to find a pile of them (after all, we used over 5 quarts!), but they were so dispersed that there was only one little area where there were a lot of them! I added pictures from our visit below:
-Don
AKA Phoebe's proud Dad
AKA Phoebe's proud Dad