[ale] [OT]: Better packing material than whipped cream?

[Michael H. Warfield]

On Tue, 2014-01-28 at 00:31 -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote: 
> On Mon, 2014-01-27 at 21:23 -0700, Robert L. Harris wrote: 
> > Ok, my son is doing the egg drop in high school physics.  He has a
> > good plan but is limited by a 100gram weight limit.  He's thought of
> > using whipped cream (frozen with dry-ice before drop) to act as a
> > shock absorber.  I'm concerned with it breaking down and just becoming
> > slush while he waits.  Anyone have any good suggestions?

> Stunt men use piles of milk cartons to absorb energy for some jumps.
> While not on that scale, I would recommend piles of balls like the balls
> kids play in at t Chucky Cheese or a vat of ping pong balls.  The
> objective is to dissipate and distribute energy and provide a gentle
> deceleration.  Larger balls (tennis balls or the big plastic balls)
> would probably NOT work due to the size ratio.  Ping pong balls might
> just work and they are extremely light.  Along the same lines, stunt men
> also use partially inflated air cushions as well.  Something along the
> lines of a 3/4 blown up air bag might work.

More I think about it...  Try this...

Take a small trash back and set it in a bowl about its size and blow it
up where it's almost, but no quite firm.  You could blow it up by breath
but the challenge is going to be in sealing it so it doesn't lose air.

You could easily drop and egg on to that with out breaking.  The bag's
weight should be trivial.  The question really is the correct air volume
to provide the proper cushion so the egg doesn't "hit the bottom" while
not making it so stiff that it breaks the egg.

> > Robert
> > 
> Mike
> 
> > -- 
> > :wq!
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Robert L. Harris
> > 
> > DISCLAIMER:
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> > Man
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-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
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