Dreier Carr
DURHAM — Scott Barnes’ gaze was fixed as he stood in the central court of the Streets at Southpoint Mall Sunday afternoon.
Despite all of the advertisements and storefronts designed to grab his attention, the junior in mechanical engineering was focused on the balcony of the floor above, where a gap-toothed young boy waited for a signal. The grinning youth peering down from the railing held in his hand a vessel of his own creation, which he was itching to launch in Barnes’ direction.
Barnes’ strict focus was understandable – not just because he was standing a few inches from a 6-foot bullseye, but because the single occupant of the boy’s makeshift craft was one large, grade-A chicken egg.
“Go for it,” Barnes said.
Giddily, the boy dropped his creation from the balcony. It made a satisfying thunk on the green-and-white target. Apparently, a plush snoopy toy wasn’t enough to shield the egg from the impact of a 256-inch drop. A sticky, yellow mess indicated the boy’s failure.
Barnes and six other students from the University’s chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers repeated this routine 120 different times Sunday afternoon during the 10th annual ASME Egg Drop.
Participants in the event, which was open to everyone, entered their devices into one of two classes: the traditional Class 1, which allowed the use of packing materials, or Class 2, which did not. The result was a collection of wild and wacky creations that went beyond the typical egg wrapped in bubble wrap.
A brightly colored graveyard of drop vessels near one of the event’s tables showcased the competition’s diversity. One unbroken egg sat snugly between two foam bricks bound together. In a sandwich bag, two slices of bread enveloped another egg. Even a pair of underwear — briefs, not boxers — sat soiled with yoke in the pile.
Edwin Duncan, chair of the event and member of the ASME senior section, said the variety of design shows how differently these potential engineers and scientists might approach on-the-job problems.
“We do want the fundamentals of engineering taught along with this. When you get into engineering, everything is between the lines,” Duncan, a 1982 graduate of N.C. State, said. “The kids need real work and real problems.”
He watched as each participant dropped his or her entry off two different points on the upper balcony. Some of the drop vessels, he pointed out, bounced out of the target, lowering their score. Duncan said those weren’t hard to predict.
“This one will,” he said, as a two-liter bottle packed with felt fell to the mall floor. “Big Bounce!” he laughed.
The vessel hit its mark on the bullseye and rebounded a few feet into the air.
“The thing is, if you’re going to use cushioning material on the inside, use it on the outside.”
Duncan said the event is an ideal way to challenge students’ engineering skills because of its sheer simplicity.
“The egg drop’s perfect because [the egg is] the perfect test vehicle,” he said.
But the participants weren’t the only ones learning to overcome problems. Student ASME volunteers were conquering their own as they managed the 120 entries throughout the day.
A weighted string running from the drop point to the volunteers below moved registration cards to the bottom with the use of binder clips and gravity. Instead of writing and erasing each competitor on the dry-erase scoreboard, Nathan Maher, a junior in mechanical engineering, learned to tape the cards to the board so he could move them around easier.
“It’s all about problem solving,” Maher said with a laugh.
Although he saw quite a few complicated designs, Barnes said sometimes “Keep it Simple, Stupid” is the best motto.
“I like the parachutes,” Barnes said after a colorful scarf ballooned in midair and slowly floated an egg encased in an ice cream cone to the ground. “But there’s also the simple ones – the KISS mantra.”
Barnes, who will serve as next year’s ASME student chapter president, said outreach projects like these help inspire the future of science and engineering.
“It promotes engineering in general,” Barnes said of events like the egg drop. “There’s a really big push for having more of them.”