SRT Egg Drop Journal

Day 1: Today my partner and I researched parachute designs for the egg drop challenge. The egg
drop challenge is a challenge where you must make a parachute for an egg that will get the egg
down to the ground without breaking in the shortest time possible. Although, there is a certain
reason to why a parachute is essential for this challenge. The reason is that is it will slow the egg
down creating less fall pressure. Therefore, if an object is released from a height, gravity will act on it
at 9.8m/s2. This acceleration means that the force of the impact is high. Newtons second law
supports this as it states how the velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external
force. This means that the velocity/speed of an object will changes when a force is applied against it
(Force= Mass times Acceleration), such as gravity, wind, anything that is applying force against that
egg. The reason why a parachute effects the velocity of the egg to slow its fall and protect it is
because the parachute expands out applying the force of air against it slowing it down. Therefore,
due to the fact that the egg with be tied on to the parachute the egg will also slow down creating
less fall force. First my partner and I thought of using a good design of this specific challenge, which
consisted of straws to make a cover/protection for the egg to ensure its safety. Although, this design
had no parachute and therefore useless for this challenge, website: (Pinterest, n.d.). We identified
two other good designs for this experiment. One being a parachute the shape of a hollow pyramid
with a small box or cup to protect the egg from landing impact. The other being a square parachute
design with four round pieces of wood to protect the egg from landing impact. The pictures of these
parachutes are below with the websites above the pictures and labelled diagrams of the 2 designs.
Although we had found many other designs which are listed below.

Other parachute designs researched:

Square parachute design with wooden sticks to protect the egg:

Website: https://au.pinterest.com/maddalenacapone/parachute-egg-drop/ (Parachute Egg Drop,

n.d.)

Specific parachute: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/331859066265565143 (Explore Fair Projects,

Science Projects and more!, n.d.)

Hollow pyramid parachute design with small box or cup to protect the egg:
Website: https://au.pinterest.com/maddalenacapone/parachute-egg-drop/ (Parachute Egg Drop,
n.d.)

Specific parachute: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/517069600952601838 (Explore School Parties,

Stem Projects and more!, n.d.)

Day 2: Today my partner and I researched how to make these parachutes by going on the websites
we found the parachute designs on in the first day. We found out that to make the hollow design we
required a sewing machine and needed pieces of wood to go inside the sown sockets that would be
made with the machine. Neither of us owned a sewing machine so we decided to not do the hollow
pyramid design parachute given we lacked the necessary equipment.

Day 3: Today we researched how to make the square parachute design. Unfortunately, we realised
we couldnt make this design either, because the egg protector for this design requires two sphere-
shaped thin wooden pieces. We did not have these specific pieces and didnt know where to get
them. So, we decided to not use this exact design.

However, we believed this design would be very effective at achieving our experiments aim so we
altered the original design to have a cup or small box instead of the wooden sticks. This modification
allowed us to continue with the other aspects of this design.

Day 4: Today we started building our modified parachute design. We started by sticky taping three
paddle pop sticks tip to tip. We made 2 of these taped rows and taped them across each other to
form a cross-shaped structure. My partner made a square cloth into which we inserted the paddle
pop stick cross. Then we cut little pieces off the ends of the paddle pop sticks so that we could tie
the wire around it and so the wire wouldnt move up and down. Then we sticky taped the knots to
make sure it didnt unknot itself. We then tied the other end to the cup by cutting 4 little holes
evenly into the cup and slid the wire to it. Then we knotted the other end and taped the knot to
make sure it didnt unknot itself.

Day 5: Today we worked more on our parachute trying to get it finished. We tested the flight ability
of our parachute by dropping it from a low height and found that it works. Although, it wouldnt land
as the base surface area was very small and since it glided through the air on an angle. I realised we
needed to make the base surface area bigger, or it wouldnt land straight risking the safety of the
egg. Consequently, my partner and I decided to hot glue a big round piece of hard cardboard to the
bottom the cup to give it more surface area. Not surprisingly when we dropped it again from a low
height it landed perfectly every time, as long as we dropped it straight. This confirmed that our
modification was successful. We tried to think of ways to improve the safety of it to ensure the egg
wont break. Therefore, we decided to cover the egg with baking paper before we put it in the cup
so that it has further protection, preventing the egg from falling out and cushioning it from the
landing impact. The Method is shown below with detailed steps and pictures for further clarification.
For the end product of our parachute there were many materials we used which were:

*Bendable wire

*1 cardboard cup

*Square piece of cloth

*Long and wide paddle pop sticks

*Sticky tape

*Hot glue gun hard glue stick

*Hot glue gun

*Baking paper

*An egg

*Scissors

*One big piece of cardboard

*One pencil

Method:

Step 1: The materials were gathered.

Step 2: The paddle pop sticks were sticky taped together in a line tip to tip. Two of these lines were
made.
Step 3: Little square pieces of cloth were sticky taped to the corners of the larger square cloth for
the parachute.

Step 4: The two lines of paddle pop sticks were taped across each other to form a cross shape then
each of the edges of the cross were slid into each of the sockets of the parachute cloth.

Step 5: Then the sides of each paddle-pop line was slightly cut so that the wires were able to be tied
around both the ends of each paddle-pop line so that the paddle-pop lines were bent. Then to make
it bend more half of a pencil was used as an external force against the paddle-pop lines. So that the
parachute was useable.
Step 6: Then four holes were made in the cup with a pencil evenly spread for balance purposes. Then
the wires from the paddle-pop sticks were slid through the four holes and then tied. After this the
outside of the cup was taped to ensure that the ties would not come out and risk the safety of the
egg.
Step 7: Then a big circle was cut out of a larger piece of cardboard and hot glued to the bottom of
the cup for surface area.

Day 6: Today we completed our experiment by dropping our parachute from a height of 13 meters
(second floor of W block). We tested the time it took for the egg to reach the ground, how far from
the target it landed and whether the egg landed safely (i.e. was intact). Based on the height of 13m
and the time taken, we were able to calculate the velocity of the fall. These results were recorded
above. There were many risks encountered throughout this experiment. A table has been created to
illustrate these risks. A picture of the final product is provided under the risk assessment table.

Risk How it is a risk How it can be prevented How it can be dealt with if
the risk is to occur
Hot glue gun It can burn a student if This risk can be prevented by If anyone is to get burned
with hot glue used without caution. using the hot glue gun with with a hot glue gun, the
in it. care and keeping body parts best thing to do is to run
at a reasonable distance the brunt part under cold
from the tip. tap water as fast as
possible.
 Cutting with It can be dangerous as you This risk can be prevented by If anyone is to get cut with
scissors. can get cut by scissors. cutting with caution and a pair of scissors the best
keeping body parts away thing to do would be to
from where you are cutting. clean the area of the cut
for infection dangers with
equipment such as water,
then get a tissue and dry
the area and put a bandage
over it.
Dropping the It can be considered as a This risk can be prevented by If anyone is to get hit by
parachute and hazard as people could be telling the people below to the parachute as it is falling
egg from the walking below and could keep clear and that the and is badly hurt, then the
13 metres hurt if the parachute fell on parachute will be dropped. best thing to do would be
height. them. to tell a teacher and maybe
get some ice and put it on
the area that it hurts.
Bending the It can be reasonably This risk can be prevented by If anyone is to get hurt by
paddle pop dangerous as if it snapped taking caution and keep the the broken paddle pop
sticks to make it could hurt someone is paddle pop sticks at a certain sticks then the best action
the multiple ways, such as distance from you when you to take would be to tell a
parachute. cutting, poking, stabbing slightly bend them to create teacher and remove any
someone anywhere. the parachute. wood pieces in your skin
(disinfect the area) and put
a bandage over it. Only if it
is that bad.

Bibliography
Explore Fair Projects, Science Projects and more! (n.d.). Retrieved from Pinterest:
https://au.pinterest.com/pin/331859066265565143

Explore School Parties, Stem Projects and more! (n.d.). Retrieved from Pinterest:
https://au.pinterest.com/pin/517069600952601838

Parachute Egg Drop. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pinterest:

https://au.pinterest.com/maddalenacapone/parachute-egg-drop/

Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved from Egg drop project: https://au.pinterest.com/explore/egg-drop-

project/