Final Thoughts: SUCCESS!

Launch Day was a success!
Our egg survived the five meter drop, we had the lightest container, and fully qualified restriction wise.

Here is some data regarding our container on Launch Day:

Mass of Container: 54.0g
Mass of Egg: 64.8g
Total Mass: 118.8g
(Lightest Mass. 2nd Lightest with egg, but we had the heaviest egg.)

Dimensions:
   Height: 24cm
   Diameter: 19 to 20 cm (varied at different points - balloons caused an imperfect cylinder)

Distance of Falls:
  Gym: 5m
  Roof: about 15m

Time of Fall:
  Gym: 1.00s
  Roof: 1.93s
 (Shows velocity increased with increased height.)

Condition of Egg:
  Gym: Unbroken
  Roof: Broken

Score = (2000/mass of container) x earned egg points
Earned egg points: (determined from 5m drop)
  10 points: unbroken egg
   5 points: cracked shell
  1/2 point: broken egg

Score = (2000/54.0g) x 10
          = 370.4
(Highest Score)

The gym launch of five meters was the one that "counted".
We did the roof launch of approximately 15 meters "just for fun".

Analysis:
1. I feel the most limiting restriction during the design phase of this project was the dimensions. Having to fit the container into a 25cm-cube eliminated the possibility of a parachute and also limited the size of the balloons we could have around the cylinder for padding once we were on our final design.
If we could have had a larger container, we could have had larger balloons or more balloons to give the egg greater protection.
If we could have had a parachute, air resistance would have had a larger role in protecting the egg.
It definitely was possible to work within the dimension limits, but we did have to be careful.
In the end we were close to the limit, having a height of 24cm, but we managed.
Mass also had a fairly large influence - not so much for the actual design (although we tried to use as light of materials, and as few of those materials as possible) but more with that we wanted to have the lightest container possible to earn higher points.

2. I believe the most effective part of our design was the balloons surrounding the egg. They protected the egg when it landed, since the container always fell on its side. The balloons also made the container less aerodynamic, causing the fall to be a little slower. While the cardboard cone that the egg was situated in may have spread the impact around the circumference of the egg, rather than a single point, if the balloons weren't there to protect the sides as they hit the ground when the container fell over, the cone would have been essentially ineffective. Thus, the balloons were the most effective part of our design.
The least effective part of our design was probably the extra padding inside the cone. It really didn't do too much, since the egg was fit into the cone fairly snugly. It really did just add extra mass, but the little bit of extra padding helping to secure and protect the egg added that little bit of extra "insurance".

3. If we were to adapt our container to safely support two eggs, while still staying within the restrictions, I believe we would need to add another row of balloons above the existing row. We would just place the second egg on top of the first in the cone/tube. The balloons would cushion the circumference of the second egg. The two eggs would need to be separated by cushioning so they wouldn't hit and crack each other. Also, we would maybe need to devise a system to hold the second egg in, since it wouldn't be so far in the cone, and thus the cone wouldn't be as tight and wouldn't hold the egg as snugly. The adapted container would have a larger mass, but the adaptations could be done.

All in all, this was a very rewarding project.
There were a lot of ups and downs, mostly starting with downs.
At the start, we weren't sure if we were ever going to create a working container, but we did it.
Our new container not only worked, but was the lightest as well.
We had some fun with this, both throughout the design process and on Launch Day.
(Going up on the roof of the school was pretty awesome!)
Within all that, we also got to apply our existing knowledge and gain some new knowledge about forces, impact, falling, and cushioning.
As stressful as this project was at times, trying to make something that worked, here at the end of this, I am very happy with how everything turned out.

Thanks Roger!! You did great! =)
(If you haven't seen the caption for the one picture, our container got named Roger...somehow.)