Design
Personally, I really believe our design this time around was much more well thought out, since we were more aware of what aspects of the structure will help the egg survive, and what obstacles to avoid during both the construction of the egg lander and during the actual drop.
The design of our egg lander was based on the shape of an hour glass. We decided on this shape because even though we knew the importance of having a strong base to support the fall of the egg, we also realized that a bigger top would also help balance the structure (as it distributed the weight better as the egg is in the centre of the structure), and help protect the egg (in case the structure did topple over, the egg would not be in danger). Even though we originally wanted to make the base a giant triangle, we figured out that the bigger surface the base has, the more stability will allow, and ended up with square bases.
We wanted a good distance between the egg and the bottom and top of the hour glass, so the egg wouldn't be too close to the ground when we dropped it, and the structure would absorb most of the impact by the time it got to the egg. However, we needed to figure out a length that was efficient on our straws as well.
As for the container of the egg, we made a cube (since it was quite easy to build) and tried to add as many supports around it as possible to prevent the egg from falling out during the drop.
Results
Unfortunately, our egg lander failed again. I was the one who dropped the egg lander, (one of the most nerve wrecking experiences), and so I didn't get to see what actually happened to our egg, but I was told by my group that the structure of the egg lander was too weak, since we attempted to use our leftover pieces for the supports, and taped two separate pieces of straw together (which really was a mistake, as it bent easily on those points), and the container did not protect the egg very well. Even though we had discussed on wanted to put flexibility into our structure at the beginning, this was certainly not a good way of incorporating that idea, and our egg lander completely lacked strength. So, in the end, we're not really sure if our hour glass was a good shape to work with (though by the small number of successes with the structure, we can probably bet that it wasn't).
Improvements
Once again, there are tons of improvements that could have been made to our structure. For one, we should have definitely supported the egg container better. Instead of using the last of our straws as supports on the side, we should have used them to hold the distance between the top/bottom of the hour glass and the egg container. Then, the structure would not have been as flimsy, and the egg would have been better protected. As for the container, it should have protected the egg better.
When we designed the container, our only thought for it was for a place to stick the egg, and to ensure that the egg doesn't fall out. We never really gave it much thought to how well it would accommodate the egg. Then again, we rushed through the construction for other parts of the egg lander as well, which brings me to the next point: we should have been more efficient with our planning and construction. We wasted so much time discussing about what to do for the egg lander that we barely had enough time to build the actual thing. This could have been easily solved by going home, and doing some research before we get started so we knew exactly what we were getting into.
Overall, this project was fun and allowed for us to interact with new people. Personally, it added to the list of many reasons of why I can't/shouldn't/wouldn't ever be an engineer or anything of the like.
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