Da Vinci’s egg drop challenge at UCC
This year, the 3-dimensional art class is tackling not only one of the most well-known individuals in history but also the godfather of inventors as well, Leonardo Da Vinci.
“The art class will recreate a Da Vinci device that will safely transport a raw egg from the drop of a second story building,” said Gregg Price, an adjunct professor of art at UCC.
Certain aesthetic and technical limitations were placed on the students. They had to design something in the vein of Leonardo Da Vinci after researching the Renaissance and his inventions such as flying machines, tanks and military devices.
The students were only allowed to use materials that were available during the Renaissance: wood, string, rope, twine, paper, cloth, wax and some glue. “It is a project that will hopefully challenge the students by only using Renaissance and Leonardo-looking design that will do what it is designed to do, which is to safely transport without breaking,” said Price.
The egg drop challenge happened Wednesday, May 13 at 2 p.m. The students used the tallest balcony on campus to launch the projects. The students critiqued each others’ projects on how successful they were both in terms of using Renaissance materials as well as the design aesthetics.
Previous attempts at the project have resulted in around a 25 percent success rate for protecting the egg. Previous attempts failed from gaining too much velocity on the way down. The protection of the egg is key to a successful project design.
This year’s challenge had around ten entrants whose designs varied. While most of the students went with a parachute design, Jason Buer’s project stood out from the rest as his design was voted by the class as most Da Vinci like. Jason’s design incorporated a Da Vinci tank and glider with three wings that the class called the ceiling fan. The class success rate for the challenge was 100 percent. The eggs lived to fry another day.