Bridge making suggestions

[raysoh8]

Today i entered a bridge building contest. Schools from all over the island will be sending teams to participate. 4 teams per school, 4 people per team. (there are other types of contests too, we chose to do the bridge one.)

The rules are- we will have to build a bridge from 150 satay sticks, some straws, and glue or tape or whatever. (For those of you who dont know what satay sticks are think of 11 inch toothpicks used for shish-ka-bobing food. And 1 end is pointed like a toothpick, the other end is not.) The paper said something about 5 kg, so i'm guessing the bridge will have to hold up 5 kg. Or maybe who is the first to hold up 5 kg. Something tells me 5 kg with satay sticks isnt going to be easy. The prize is $300.

So any of you have any idea how we are going to build a bridge capable of holding 5 kg? Nobody said anything about how big the bridge can be so any size is ok. I was thinking maybe pack some satay sticks in a straw so we have some strong sticks instead of 11 inch toothpicks. And we plan on using a load of tape. Il post a sketch of my idea later.

[raysoh8]

Some rules i forgot to add- the bridge must be made at the competition, although we can make some test models.

[dantheman00114]

triangles are always good for structure and support.

[ghostguy6]

the structure they will use to test your bridge, do you know what it will look like? we had a similar contest in 9th grade. If you can tell me more details about the dimensions you need I should be able to give you hand.

[fredjacksonsan]

Design will depend on how long the bridge must be. Maybe they'll show you the gap that has to be bridged once you get to the competition. This design should work for most applications:

/\ /\ /\
----------

With the /\ being the triangles mentioned previously beint over the roadbed (---------). The tough part is to figure how to reliably and quickly attach the two parts together.

[Schister66]

Originally Posted by dantheman00114

triangles are always good for structure and support.

Use all of the tape and make a lot of triangles

[ec437]

They do this at my school with popscicle sticks in I think physics class. The record is 125 pounds.

[KustmAce]

Bridges suck. Build a boat.

[eversio11]

I just finished my bridge thang in physics class over the break. It was made out of 3/32 inch basswood.

5kg is about what the average person held up, so it shouldn't be too hard to reach that.

The best was one that held about 22kg, and that design was an arch with a straight section on top, with triangles supporting that top section up.

[sameintheend01]

take the sticks and break them (not completely) about 1 inch apart in a reverse direction. should look like this: ^v^v^v^ do this several sticks thick. then lay sticks over them and beneath them. did something like that in elementary school. that's the best way. unless u can shape it somehow into an arch.

[RickwithaTbird]

make circles. If you can build a circular bridge with satay sticks then it doesnt matter if you win, at least you will have the coolest bridge.

[raysoh8]

MS paint is your friend guys i have no idea what you people are talking about. (im stupid) Anyway, 5 kg may not seem like much to some of you, but satay sticks are nowhere as strong as popsicle sticks. And i think any dimension will do, i think at the competition they will just be using some bricks to hold the bridges in the air.


Heres my idea. Does it look strong enougn to you guys?

[lazysmurff]

look, triangles are your friend (as are trapazoids) if i remember correctly. that being said, build your bridge like corrogated cardboard. sameintheend tried to tell you this, but i dont think you understood, i barely did.

also, the internet is your friend. every highschool does this project in physics class, im sure there are write ups and how too's all over the place, just do a search for it.