Written by Devansh Taori, Anshul Mathur, and Ryan Wei (period 4).
Introduction
In Mrs. Roemer's 4th period physics class, we built a bridge out of popsicle sticks and wood glue. We spent a significant amount of time in class as well as outside of class constructing the huge bridge. We met up at Anshul's house twice for nearly 11 hours in total to complete the bridge. In the end, it was an extremely successful project that was tons of fun.
The main objective for this experiment was to create a bridge weighing less than 0.454 kg that could hold more than 40 times its weight.
We successfully created such a bridge. In the end, our bridge was 0.444 kg in weight and held more than 300 times its weight.
Strategy and procedure
When we first started creating the bridge, we were unsure where to start. Our first two attempts started by creating the sides of the 60 cm pathway on the top of the bridge. However, after constructing more of the bridge, we realized that these two models weren't feasible. Our third attempt was the one that ended up becoming successful.
Once we figured out the general structure of the bridge, we made a quick sketch to make the building process a lot easier. We decided to go with a general truss structure for the sides and bases, since that would balance the weight better and make the bridge lighter but also more durable. We used approximately 16.5 trusses in total for the sides.
We decided to first start by building the individual trusses of the bridge that would help to carry the weight on the sides. Because the trusses were criss-crossed, they effectively balanced out the weight across the entire bridge and made it more stable. Also, the trusses transferred the force more effectively to the bases, which took most of the weight.
Now that we had weighed the entire rectangular prism on the top, we decided to build the bases. Because we knew exactly how much weight we had left, we adjusted the structure of the bases to reduce weight. Instead of putting a ton of popsicle sticks that had little function, we had a few popsicle sticks that were effective in holding up a lot of force.
Eventually, we constructed our entire bridge using a truss structure for the sides, a 60 cm solid roadway for the top, and bases that were extremely light but also used a criss-crossed structure to balance the weight. To make sure we weren't overweight, we used one of Anshul's weighing machines.
Going into Mrs. Roemer's class on the day of the Bridge Test, we were actually extremely scared. When we weighed the bridge at home, we were at 0.450 kg. We thought that maybe we would be overweight. Regardless, we were still so happy to be finally done with the bridge.
Results
When we weighed the bridge in Mrs. Roemer's class, it was luckily only at 0.444 kg. Thank goodness!
Here is the very final picture of the bridge right before we placed it for the weight test.
When we were doing the actual weight test, we were extremely careful when placing down the weights, because we thought that our bridge would collapse immediately. As you can see in the picture above, the bases were tilting slightly inward, and we thought that any amount of weight would cause the bridge to collapse inward. Luckily, our bridge held a significant amount. In fact, it held around 300 pounds before it collapsed! That's about 307 times the weight of our bridge!
Here's a picture of the bridge being finally destroyed under the sheer force of the weights.
Concluding Remarks
As can be clearly seen, our bridge project was extremely successful. By utilizing a truss structure for the sides and bases, we made our bridge light and stable. Our bridge, weighing 0.444 kg, held 300 pounds, which is approximately 307 times its weight. Because of our ingenuity, planning, and hard work, we were successfully able to pass the test! If we were to do this experiment again, we would try to build the bridge by setting a limit on popsicle sticks, rather than the weight. This would force students to experiment with designs to make them extremely efficient.
Devansh did the lab report, took pictures, and created the 60 cm top roadway.
Anshul did the side, the bases, and helped with the lab report.
Ryan took pictures, created the sketch of the bridge design, helped with the bases, and did the sides.
Introduction
In Mrs. Roemer's 4th period physics class, we built a bridge out of popsicle sticks and wood glue. We spent a significant amount of time in class as well as outside of class constructing the huge bridge. We met up at Anshul's house twice for nearly 11 hours in total to complete the bridge. In the end, it was an extremely successful project that was tons of fun.
The main objective for this experiment was to create a bridge weighing less than 0.454 kg that could hold more than 40 times its weight.
We successfully created such a bridge. In the end, our bridge was 0.444 kg in weight and held more than 300 times its weight.
Strategy and procedure
When we first started creating the bridge, we were unsure where to start. Our first two attempts started by creating the sides of the 60 cm pathway on the top of the bridge. However, after constructing more of the bridge, we realized that these two models weren't feasible. Our third attempt was the one that ended up becoming successful.
Once we figured out the general structure of the bridge, we made a quick sketch to make the building process a lot easier. We decided to go with a general truss structure for the sides and bases, since that would balance the weight better and make the bridge lighter but also more durable. We used approximately 16.5 trusses in total for the sides.
We decided to first start by building the individual trusses of the bridge that would help to carry the weight on the sides. Because the trusses were criss-crossed, they effectively balanced out the weight across the entire bridge and made it more stable. Also, the trusses transferred the force more effectively to the bases, which took most of the weight.
After building the trusses, we connected all of them together by using lots of wood glue. This structure formed the side of the rectangular prism at the top of the bridge. After building the sides of the bridge, we decided to build the 60 cm roadway on top, since we were afraid of going over weight and wanted to see how much weight we would have left for the base.
Eventually, we constructed our entire bridge using a truss structure for the sides, a 60 cm solid roadway for the top, and bases that were extremely light but also used a criss-crossed structure to balance the weight. To make sure we weren't overweight, we used one of Anshul's weighing machines.
Going into Mrs. Roemer's class on the day of the Bridge Test, we were actually extremely scared. When we weighed the bridge at home, we were at 0.450 kg. We thought that maybe we would be overweight. Regardless, we were still so happy to be finally done with the bridge.
Results
When we weighed the bridge in Mrs. Roemer's class, it was luckily only at 0.444 kg. Thank goodness!
Here is the very final picture of the bridge right before we placed it for the weight test.
When we were doing the actual weight test, we were extremely careful when placing down the weights, because we thought that our bridge would collapse immediately. As you can see in the picture above, the bases were tilting slightly inward, and we thought that any amount of weight would cause the bridge to collapse inward. Luckily, our bridge held a significant amount. In fact, it held around 300 pounds before it collapsed! That's about 307 times the weight of our bridge!
Here's a picture of the bridge being finally destroyed under the sheer force of the weights.
Concluding Remarks
As can be clearly seen, our bridge project was extremely successful. By utilizing a truss structure for the sides and bases, we made our bridge light and stable. Our bridge, weighing 0.444 kg, held 300 pounds, which is approximately 307 times its weight. Because of our ingenuity, planning, and hard work, we were successfully able to pass the test! If we were to do this experiment again, we would try to build the bridge by setting a limit on popsicle sticks, rather than the weight. This would force students to experiment with designs to make them extremely efficient.
Devansh did the lab report, took pictures, and created the 60 cm top roadway.
Anshul did the side, the bases, and helped with the lab report.
Ryan took pictures, created the sketch of the bridge design, helped with the bases, and did the sides.