Generate Ideas- Idea 1: Idea 2: -Make a thick box out of the paper -Make a thick box out of the paper -Stand the tubes on side -Stand the tubes up Constraints-
Can only use paper and stapler
Minimum size of 2x2 inches and maximum size of 4x4 inches
Criteria-
What size is the crumple zone?
How much protection does the crumple zone provide?
How heavy is the crumple zone?
Research-
What are crumple zones?
They are structural areas in the front and sometimes rear of a vehicle that are designed to absorb energy upon impact in a predictable way.
Our first test of the design worked, therefore there were no failed attempts.
Possible Solutions-
Our solution is to take a 4" by 4" by 4" box and fill it with paper on the bottom, then fill the box with cylinders, then thick paper sheets again with crumbled up paper on the top of the box. Another solution could be to make the same 4" by 4" by 4" filled with paper cylinders, however the paper cylinders are laid horizontally instead of vertically.
Working Model- Our working model is a crumple zone that is a cube that is filled with paper cylinders. Together the cube shape and paper cylinders are meant to absorb the impact of the water bottle before the force hits the egg. It will absorb the force by compressing; the paper cylinders will be crushed absorbing some of the impact and then the cube will also do the same. Building the crumple zone consisted of creating about 20 mini-paper cylinders on the first day of building and then on the second day of building we constructed the paper cube and filled it with our mini-paper cylinders.
ReDesign Our first crumple zone performed okay as when the water bottle was dropped on it there were only 2 cracks on the bottom of the egg. This is equivalent to broken bones, but the passenger of the car would live. In our new design we changed the crumple zone so that it has a cylinder shape, allowing it to absorb the impact of the water bottle better by compressing and we also reduced the weight of the crumple zone by 62 grams as our first one weighed 80 grams, which is very heavy. On top of that we added paper springs inside of the crumple zone to help absorb shock.
Result Our redesigned crumple zone did not do good at all because the cylinder shape ended up transferring the force down to the egg. Due to this our egg was completely crushed when the water bottle was dropped on it. If this was a real crumple zone and a real car the passengers would have not survived unfortunately.