Annual egg drop challenges Delaware art students

How do you design a structure to protect an egg during a five-story drop to the pavement below? That’s was the challenge Delaware College of Art and Design faced Tuesday.

The eggs rained down from DCAD’s roof Tuesday afternoon. Some landed gently, others burst into pieces as they crashed onto a downtown Wilmington street. For the designers, it takes a combination of art and science to have success.

“It has to do with physics,” said DCAD instructor Stan Smokler. “In both form and function, it’s a physical problem.”

Students in DCAD’s 3D design classes channelled their inner Leonardo da Vinci, designing all sorts of parachutes and wings designed to slow the speed of the eggs as they dropped to the street. As part of the rules, students had to use three sheets of basswood, string, two eighth-inch dowels and paper no larger than 36″ by 36″. An no glue was allowed to be used. 

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