Engineering clubs gathered in the Student Union yesterday to demonstrate Newton's law of gravity for the annual Egg Drop Competition, as part of UB Engineer's Week.
The objective of the contest was to fashion a package that could prevent a raw egg from breaking after being dropped from the third floor of the Union.
Competitors were provided with an array of supplies to protect their eggs, including socks, rawhide dog biscuits, pudding, sanitary napkins, Dixie cups, condoms, super glue, Twinkies and marshmallow Peeps.
The eggs were then dropped onto a bull's eye target below. Each club was rated on the speed of the drop, the accuracy of hitting the target and whether or not the egg broke.
"Our egg broke, but we did at least hit the target," said Arleen Reynoso, a junior nursing and psychology major and a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
Collaborating with the National Society of Black Engineers, their strategy was to soften the impact with lots of socks and Twinkies.
"We thought there was a lot of cushion," Reynoso said. "But it probably landed on the side where the dog biscuit was."
The American Society of Engineers sacrificed speed and accuracy for a perfectly intact egg. They encased their egg in a sanitary napkin, a sock and a Dixie cup, and then created a parachute out of a plastic bag.
"Our egg went way off the target but it was a nice soft landing," said Chelsea Marshall, a junior civil engineering major.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics went with an extremely creative landing device, and were not disappointed by its messy result.
"We just want to make it fall as fast a possible," said senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major David Fowler just before the drop.
They used a ring of Dixie cups filled with pudding and marshmallow Peeps as a base with the egg nestled in the middle, wrapped in between two Twinkies, a sanitary napkin and a condom. It was all kept together with lots of tape.
Neil Walkowski, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major affectionately named the contraption, "The Easter Basket."
"We knew it needed to fall fast and needed a wide base," said Amanda Schmidt, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major.
Once it was dropped, pudding splattered everywhere, but their egg was in one piece.
The UB Robotics club used very little supplies, but their egg still made it safely to the ground.
"We plan to minimize the distance of the egg's fall," said David Berquist, a freshman computer engineering major. "This method is sure to be controversial."
The team wrapped their egg in foam padding, using lots of tape and plastic to make a rope, and slowly lowered their egg down until it was about three inches from the floor. Then they let it drop.
"We would be surprised if our egg broke," said David Muffoletto, a sophomore electrical engineering major. "But we wouldn't be surprised if we lost."
The team did lose, although it was not due to controversial methods - the egg did not break, but the contraption's rope landed out of bounds.
You can catch engineers' robots battling it out in "Bot Wars" in the Student Union Lobby today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
