They Like Eggs Over Easy
From the Raleigh N&O
By Jay Price , Staff Writer
April 16, 2007

Who besides hens knew that eggs were so important? About 100 people gathered Sunday afternoon at N.C. State University to focus their brain power on egg safety.

The annual egg drop, sponsored by the local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, is really less about foiling a scramble than introducing kids to technical challenges.

The problem: Build a device with as few parts and little weight as possible that, dropped from about 20 feet, will land in the center of a target, all while keeping an egg aboard intact.

The solutions: A weird collection of balloons, foam rubber, styrofoam cubes, shopping bag parachutes, a sharp paper cone with fins bent at the big end to slow it down and miniature sputniks built with drinking straws.

The target was a sheet of vinyl painted with rings on the bricks below a second-floor balcony at the Talley Student Center.

Engineering society volunteer Alison Nack stood by wearing rubber gloves. She had good reason: Many hit with a sickening smack, spurring groans from the crowd.

One victim of the harsh judgment of the bricks was Shannon Gerney , 11, of Wake County. Her device, a plastic grocery bag filled with eight balloons and a small rock at the bottom for stability seemed to land well, but one of the balloons popped, with tragic consequences for the ovoid passenger.

Gerney, still cheerful, said next year she would develop a sturdier cushion.

Even with a herd of kids entered, if there had been an award for pint-sized engineering, Quinton Champitto, 10, would have won easily, because his "device" was a pint. The 16-ounce tub of Marshmallow Fluff protected the egg perfectly, though Nack grimaced as she dug around in the goo.

"I was actually hoping they'd look in and be afraid to take it out and just say it passed," quipped Quinton, a student at Swift Creek Elementary.

He had to settle for "strangest entry." The weight of the fluff kept him from having a shot at the top prize but set him up perfectly for a consolation snack. Quinton had come equipped with a jar of peanut butter, too, in case he needed a second entry.

Winner of the contest -- and $300 -- was Hunter Stansell, 9, of Garner. His elegant solution was the bottom of a plastic water bottle. It contained a single piece of special rubber foam from a mattress with the egg stuffed inside.

In the last of two tries, it smacked dead in the center of the target. His brother, Blake, entered a cylindrical pool filter stuffed with foam that did well in testing but landed on its side, perhaps because of the blustery wind.

Asked if he had seen any entries that gave him ideas for next year, Blake jerked a thumb at his beaming brother.

"Yeah, his."

Keeping eggs intact is only a short-term priority for Hunter, though. He wants to be a chef.

Hunter, meet Quinton.