Here’s the scoop.
For my physics class, we have to build an aerial vehicle, box, or parachute that can carry an egg safely to the ground from the top of our five story stadium. It can only be built of paper, and can have no glue. Only masking tape is allowed. You can recieve bonus points for originality and flight time.
My idea is this:
I build a glider out of those little cardborad tubes, the ones as small as a dime, then cover the framework with wax paper. What do you think?
It’s your assignment. Try it and find out! That’s called empirical research, and it’s one of the best ways to learn how to think. I don’t think you need our help, I think you need to do an experiment to determine whether or not your idea has potential.
Famously, Thomas Edison was asked: “How can you stand to continue, when you have tried thousands of things (to make an electic light bulb) and still have no results?”
Edison turned on the person and shouted, “No results! That’s absurd! I have results: I know a thousand things that don’t work!”
There were a lot of fiery streaks in the sky before Yeager passed Mach 1. There were a lot of fireballs on the ground before Sputnik, Gagarin, and Shepard.
Go break some eggs! [swg]
we had to do a project similar to this but on a smaller scale, and we had more limitations in Engineering last year. I had a lot of fun with it. Good Luck
Wow I can not beleive they are still using prodject. I remember doing this prodject back in the seventies! You might want to check the rules. if I remember right you will limited in what your flight time can be or receive a much lower grade if you spend to much time in flight. If the egg breaks you receive an F. If your prodject spents to much time airborne you will also receive an F. Time to get the old brain juice flowing. I agree with the other guys. It is a prodject designed to make you engineering skill better. If you are a good scale modeler I am sure you will be able to design something that works. Good Luck
Soulcrusher
Thanks.
Hit a bit of a wall, not sure where to get those little tubes. They’re about the thickness of a pen and solid cardboar, and I’ve seen them in sizes down to a lolipop stick. Do any of you know what they are called, or where I can find some? Didn’t have the kind I needed at AC Moore, will check Lowe’s.
Are you talking about the cardboard tubes found on pants hangers from the cleaners, or are these something else?
They’re cardboard dowels, made in sizes like the wood ones. I think they’re used in cakes, that’s one of the places I’ve seen them. Still no iea where do get them, though.
When I did this I think I think I went a bit overkill. My brother did it a few years before by stuffing a milk carton with foam rubber- it worked just fine. I did pretty much the same thing, only I added a grossly oversized parachute. Worked like a charm.
Of course, if your glider idea ends up going thorugh, pay special attention to your actual landing. You can have the sweetest glidepath possible, but with a slipshot method of landing (cartwheeling and such) you may still be screwed. Remember, it ain’t the fall the kills ya, it’s the sudden stop at the end. Maybe find some way to cushion the egg cradle or something. You just want to try to NOT have the egg rigidly attached to any part of your glider that will touch the ground.
Just some food for thought…
Hmmm, used in cakes huh? How about a bakery supply store? (sounds heavy though)
You might want to look into tubes, rather than solid dowels. A tube is stiffer and stronger than a solid dowel of the same diameter.
You’re right. I was considering that myself last night, I worked out that low wing would probably be the best bet for landing safely, but would need to be balanced out very well in order to be stable. High wing would be ideal for gliding, but the egg would need to be well insulated to survive the shock of landing.
You could try a high wing, but (to prevent possible flipping during flight) just add a heavy keel on the bottom to balance out the weight of the egg on top. Of course, the heavier you go, the worse of the glider you have, so you’ll have to find a way to balance that out.
I think that wingtip skids (along with the fuselage skid) are needed, too. This could help prevent ground looping and the possible rollover.
But you’ll be wanting to be sure that in case you DO have a rollover, you have some sort of backup plan. Always, of course, keeping the weight down.
Did I just make this needlessly complicated? I hope not. More to think about I guess… [;)]
I “solved” that puzzle/assignment 30 years ago by dropping the egg by itself from a seventh story window. Yes, it went splat. Yes it DID fall FIVE stories without breaking. Howler by all, teacher not amused! I said I DID follow instructions. I cant believe they still give that as an assignment! Pointless really…
I’m going to go with a shoulder-mounter wing, it has all the attributes I need- safety, stability, and good lift.
I’m not sure the skids are necessary, it isn’t going to be flying level for very long and I don’t think the landing will be ideal!
On the other hand, I could bend the control surfaces to bring it down in a gentle spiral to make a good landing…hmmmm…
Construction is progressing well. Since we are only allowed to use paper, I’m using cardboard box sections, about five inches wide by four feet long glued together in three layers to make the wings. I’m going to cut and shave them to make the airfoil, then cover it with waxpaper
The same method will be used to make the vertical tail and empennage, and the fuselage will be a cardboard packing tube about two inches across. Behind the “cabin” (or should it be “coop?”[;)]) there is going to be a long, thick stick of cardboard strips to which the tail is attached.
I think the outer foot of the wing is going to be upturned, it seems to be what those high-performance competition gliders are doing so it must be good.
Certainly a fun project, now need a name. I’m Thinking along the lines of The Eggstractor, Eggsclement. Hopefully not Eggspletive.
Judging by everyone’s comments, this seems to be a pretty standard project. I’m still laughing about the one that fell five stories without breaking [:D]
I did this once, except not from 5 stories…I took a model rocketry parachute, 30 inch one, and punched holes in a cut down milk carton and attached the chute. I put lots of bubble wrap inside the carton, and it amazingly prevented the egg from breaking. The larger the parachute, the slower it goes, but the farther it travels if it’s windy. I guess you’d get an F if the wind took your egg and you never saw it again…Would you mind posting pictures of your invention?
Yes, pics, please! (It’s a model, right?)
The bend in the wings is for lateral stability. Couldn’t hurt.
I also think that a spiral glidepath may be a good idea. It would be a good way to bleed off speed and keep the glider “under control” and not fly off into the next county… of course, then you gotta make sure it doesn’t hit the building…
Also, the shallower the glidpath, the better. That way the downward speed is tranferred to forward speed- the shallower the glide, the “slower” the egg will fall. But if most of your speed is forward, then you run into issues on landing, i.e., a high landing speed. THAT’S why I thought some type of skids may be a good idea.
Wow. I’m I having too much fun with this? [;)]
I build RC airplanes, so if you are going to try that approach, allow
me give you some tips based on my hard-learned lessons. Time to
dig out your propellor hats!
(1) Wingloading = Aircraft Weight / Wing area
If you want your aircraft to fly well enough that it will land
the egg intact, you should probably shoot for a wingloading of
0.05 oz / sq in. This may be more difficult than you initally
expect, given the significant weight of an egg.
(2) Center of Gravity
Most aircraft have the center of gravity approximately 1/3 of
the distance back from the wing leading edge. Test and adjust
as necessary to obtain the desired glide path. Don’t assume that
a pitch-up / pitch down tendency can simply be fixed by adjusting
the elevators. A proper CG is crucial.
(3) Airfoil
Research the effects of different airfoils. For example, a highly-
cambered airfoil will provide excellent lift but high drag. This is a
handy tool for evaluating airfoils.
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil2.htm
Personally, I think that a glider is going to be one of the most complex,
time-consuming, and yet one of the most-common solutions to the
problem at hand. Since you mentioned that originality earns points,
I myself would try a more straight-forward approach (or downward, perhaps).
I would try to slow the egg’s fall with something like a balloon, or maybe
even something that auto-rotates, like a maple seed:
Of course, building model airplanes is a wonderful pursuit that I greatly enjoy.
I don’t mean to turn you off of them in anyway.
That’s awesome dude! [:D]
I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!!!BLACKADDER
1.use a chicken before its laid
2.hard boil the egg
Chris
I did this assignment in my physics class back in college days too… You might want to re-read the specifics of the directions - paper only. Some profs will look at cardboard and/or wax paper as “not paper”.
Glider ideas are ok but they can tend to run into walls or lose lift under the wings. You want something that doesn’t fly too long as it may cost you points. Plus, double/triple wings and cardboard tubes at mass - and you need to disipate your kinetic energy at impact.
That being said…I would suggest you take a good look at the engineering that went into landing some of the probes on Mars (pathfinder, sojourner, etc). Tiny, fragile hi-tech devices that had to land safely in an atmosphere 1/1000th the thickness our own. hint hint [:D]
-Ro (an astrophysicist at large)