Design of Shuttle
Introduction: During term 3 we have been learning about force, as an activity we did water rockets, where
a group of at least 3 people designed a rocket and tried to get theirs the highest without their egg
breaking.
Aim: To investigate which shuttle will keep the egg safe.
Variables:
Dependent Variable: The dependent variable is the materials that the egg is being wrapped up in.
Independent Variable: The independent variable is to see if the egg is protected or not.
Materials:
 A 10 x 10 cardboard box.
 One sheet of bubble wrap.
 50 straws.
 1 sponge.
 1 roll of sticky tape.
 1 plastic bag.
 5 meters of string.
 4 oval shaped pieces of foam
 200ml beaker.
 200 ml of water.
 One 1.25 litre bottle.
 1 pair of scissors.
 1 egg.
 1 roll of thick sticky tape
 1 pump
Safety Features:
 Make sure you wear safety glasses because something could fly into your eye.
 Don’t cut yourself with the scissors.
 Wear a lab coat so that if you think you are going dirty it doesn’t matter. It is also a good idea so
that you can keep warm.
Method:
1. Put your safety glasses on.
2. Get the cardboard box.
3. Cut the sheet of bubble wrap in half, then roll up the bubble wrap to form a cylinder, tape it up
using sticky tape.
4. At the bottom fold it, so that it is no longer hollow, get your egg and test it, if it is to big cut it or
make it smaller.
5. Get your plastic bag and cut it about 10 cm from the bottom. Place the bit you cut inside the bubble
wrap and stick it down.
6. Now put the bubble wrap cylinder thingy inside the box, and tape the bubble wrap to the box so
that it doesn’t move. Put your egg inside it.
7. Now get your foam and place it over the egg, this will give it a little bit of padding.
8. Close the lid and stick it down using sticky tape.
9. Get 10 straws and cut them in half. Place them horizontally on the box, and again stick them down
using sticky tape, if there is not enough and that face of the box is not completely covered add
more. Keep on doing this until all the sides are covered in straws.
10. Cut the sponge in half and on opposite sides of your choice stick them down.
11. Now stick the box to the bottom of the 1.25 litre bottle using the thick sticky tape. Make sure you
use enough so that it doesn’t come off.
12. Tape the string to the lid of your rocket, this can help you to tell whether it has gone over 5 metres
or not.
13. Congratulations you are ready to launch your rocket. Good Luck!!!
Results:
Variables:
Parachute:
The parachute slowed
down, the rocket down,
but the egg still broke.
Box:
This one worked the
best, on our first trial it
cracked and broke, but
on our final trial it stayed
alive
Web:
The web didn’t work as
well as thought, the egg
broke;
Trial 1:
1.00
Trial 2:
0.94
Trial 3:
0.94
0.78
0.65
0.72
0.75
0.69
0.71
Discussion:
Even though the box turned out to be one of the faster ones to come back to the ground. We decided to
go with it because it would give the egg a bit more protection compared to the web or the parasite. Overall
our shuttle went really well and the egg didn’t brake. If I did it again I would have used more bubble wrap
and less foam, because the bubble wrap would have given the egg even more protection.
Final rocket and shuttle together:
Discussion:
Even though our rocket didn’t go highest, it still came back to the ground in one piece. If I did it again I
would have added more water so that it would have gone higher in the air and extended the rocket to see
if height and weight made a difference to the egg.
Conclusion:
Overall our rocket and egg came back to the ground safely. I learned that eggs don’t brake when they are
skimmed across grass. So next time we have to do something like this again we will know what to do;
Student Reflection:
My group and I worked really well together as a team, we were equally involved in gathering and testing
ideas, and we all put in a lot to get the job done.