(Untitled)

[ancal]

Remember the eggdrop puzzle that we had last year? We were supposed to build a package that could protect an egg from smashing when being dropped three floors. It was fun -- but it could be made less nerve-wrecking by not counting it as part of the exam! This year also had a physics puzzle as part of the exam, but it was to build a bridge

Comments

[embryophyte]

I think it's experience! Jamie and Adam make no secret that they're in it for the blowing-stuff up, and before they were Mythbusters they were doing movie special effects - I guess you just learn on the way? Er quite unrelatedly I like how Grant's calculator has a huge name label on it - it's quite sweet! I can do neither ;_;

[ancal]

Oh man Jamie and Adam are so AWESOME. With the splodey stuff too! My friend tells me Adam has a huge number of previous jobs -- more cause for jealousy. (I don't actually have a cable subscription though; all the stuff I've watched is either leaching off friends' TVs or random downloaded clips!.)

[cjqsg]

amazing videos.

for the egg one, we werent allowed tape and all that elastic stuff to hold the egg rite. we could only use toothpicks and nth else?

[thlaylirah]

yes toothpicks and glue only. 50g weight limit.

and it wasn't that difficult, I got 10/10 for it... really helped with my barely there physics A.

[ancal]

I think you can rig the final contraption with toothpicks and glue -- the trick is using the right kind of glue. Silicone might work maybe?

Toothpicks were a lot harder. In retrospect, the main problems is figuring how get the toothpicks to stay rigid (answer: lots of triangles) and creating a bendy/springy part. Most solutions either involved using a bendable joint (via a more elastic glue like silicone) or by having a certain toothpick segment be bendable.

The solution I liked best was frankchn's creation. Frank decided that the upwards deccelerating force on the egg had best be *frictional* rather than *normal*, so he built a huuuge upside-down four-sided pyramid with very steep sides and put the egg in it. It worked.