CAREFUL PACKING!
Delicate microscopes, essential to detailed observation of new plants, need careful packing to sustain rough weather on long sea voyages. Can you design some sort of newsprint packaging that Darwin could use to protect his microscope? If it can protect an egg from a fall without breaking then maybe it will protect the delicate equipment.
What you need:
- Plenty of old newspapers
- Masking tape
- Scissors
- Eggs - one hard-boiled for testing the initial design, one raw egg for final testing
- Testing station - defined spot with appropriate floor covering (such as plastic sheeting) to limit mess!
What to do:
- The challenge is to use the newspaper and tape to create packaging such that, placed around a raw egg, the egg can be dropped from the height of one metre onto a flat surface and not break.
- The initial design should be tested using the hard boiled egg. The final design should be tested with the raw egg (at the defined testing station).
- How are you going to go about this? Think about different types of packaging - padded envelopes, bubble wrap, egg boxes, cardboard tubes etc. Can you create something equally robust using newspaper?
Suggested challenge rules (may be modified by general agreement!):
- Teams of up to 3 people
- Time allowed - 30 minutes
- The packaging should be designed with some sort of opening so that the egg within it can be easily exchanged
- Any mess is the responsibility of the team concerned to clear up!
Too easy? Then limit the amount of newspaper provided or shorten the time limit or award points for neatest solution.
Too hard? Then lower the drop height or provide some extra 'packaging' materials along with the newspaper (such as cardboard, polystyrene... )
Remember:
- Whilst the Beagle's crew concentrated on surveying and charting the coasts, Darwin concentrated on investigating geology and making natural history collections
- Darwin suffered from seasickness
- Darwin had a passion for collecting beetles