Egg School

The Easter bunny came late this year to Cornell University, when the American Society of Mechanical Engineers hosted its fifth annual Egg Drop Contest last week.

Twenty-nine entrants designed containers to protect a raw egg from a four-story drop to the stone floor in front of a Cornell building. Judges selected four winners from a field of 29 entries that left the egg intact:

*A 251/2-in. paper parachute won the "drag design" category;

*A device weighing 12.8 grams won the lightest award

*A triangular device with a string-suspension system won the best engineered category;

*A contraption constructed on the pendulum principle won the most creative category.

Creativity and improvisation went into many entries. Chesrios, stuffed animals and marshmallow fluff were the secrets to success behind a few of the surviving eggs. A watermelon, a potted plant and several huge snowballs weren't so lucky. Cornell Daily Sun