Beanstalks to Castles! var part1 = "Michael.Franzen"; More videos to come. This simple video footage of the competition makes for a good learning opportunity. Built by J.C. Booth Middle for the Science Olympiad Georgia State Finals in 2003, it placed 3rd. At this stage of the unit, we are to safely build our final idea and then test it's strength. In groups of two you are to research, present, and then independently design 4 different truss style bridge designs with a goal of maximizing the efficiency of the bridge.
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'); The 3D Balsa Bridge Design Project Interactive Guided Notebook is on sale for 9.99! There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This tester is a pump action load weight bearing and load tracking, testing unit, which will apply weight and measure the bridge's ability to withstand the load. For planning, you will need large-sized 1/8-inch graph paper, a pencil and eraser, and a ruler. The next step of this activity is to finalize your design with a full size drawing using Illustrator. It is a hand on experience that guide students step by step in building a paperclip motor. Cut a piece of sheer parchment paper larger than the foam board. The bridge spanned 16 inches, weighed 37 grams, and held 346 pounds. You can see that where the slanted. 
As a rule of thumb, if you can see the glue, youve put on too much. While your bridge is still supported by pins around its sides, glue on your lateral braces. If you need to, you can use clothespins as tiny clamps. I got this idea from talking with a Science Olympiad coach in Ohio. That puts its efficiency at 1630. The materials cost about $30, and they are good for 40 students to build their own motors. Each presentation should be shared in operating slides and discussing points on each slide. The second unit, you will learn how to illustrate your bridge design on the computer, and the last unit will focus on the building of your Bridge design. 
The bridge ended up with an efficiency score of 514. Once you have established the best general bridge design, the next critical decision will be what kind of joints and how your pieces will be put together. When the bridge does break under load, the final load weight that it was able to withstand will be indicated in the LCD readout. If youre testing it with weights, make sure you do wait a full two days for the glue to cure. This bridge uses gussets and pin joints and spans 18 inches. 2: Illustrating Your Final Bridge Design, Introduction to MS Power Point 2003 Video, MindBites Illustrator Introduction Videos. There are even professional competitions for balsa wood bridges that can bear the highest loads. Look for a medium- to high-density balsa. Efficiency of the bridge is the most important goal of your design. Racking is a stress that naturally distorts a square or rectangle into a parallelogram from weight above. Select one area with your group to create a 8 to10 page Power Point presentation to show related information to truss bridge design and building: Power point presentations must include a title page and reference page showing all major sources and include 50% graphics/illustrations. If this step is not done thoroughly, you will end up with a poor or bad finished product. It also provides cl, These worksheets follow STEMtopics lesson Structures + Bridges. Make sure you put your name and date on both using the type tool icon. This balsa bridge was built by some students of mine for a Science Olympiad competition. The rest of the material cost practically nothing and are found at home. Their imagination is the limit.Another great product in TpT is the Balsa Wood Bridge Tu, Using one Google Slideshow, you can track all of your student work. Learn more Building balsa wood bridges is a popular hobby and class project. From researching the methods of building a bridge and the physics of wave resonance and frequencies, students design and develop their own suspension bridges, made primarily of balsa wood, to hold (by dangling) as large amount of weight as possible. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. After that, remove it from your foam board template, and repeat the process for the other side of the bridge. a magazine developed especially for expanding and bridging ESL, ELL, ELD, and EFL students in grades 3-4. The rest of the material cost practically nothing and, Physics students will learn how to build a real electric motor that works. It is a hand on experience that guide students step by step in building a toothpick motor. Final bridge testing will take into account the efficiency of your bridge. Measuring the angles of your bridge, not just piece lengths, is something some people do to make it easier when they cut their wood. This unique product is a collection of 786 high quality pictures of more than 100 balsa wood bridges. The first three groups that volunteer to go first will get a bonus 3,2,& 1. Let the sides dry for at least 30 minutes before joining them with the roadway and adding any lateral bracing. You might need to build a model bridge for the Science Olympiad or for an engineering or physics course, and balsa is a great construction material. By putting a diagonal brace in the middle, corner to corner, you get two triangles, which are the strongest possible shape. This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. In 2001, they won the State finals in this event. Then, use your final drawing to trace the different pieces you'll need onto the balsa wood. You will need a piece of 11 * 17 piece of corrugated cardboard, your drawing, and some wax paper. As you cut your pieces pin them into place on the corrugated cardboard. The parchment paper keeps glue off of your drawing and allows you to use it to create both sides of your bridge. Rules below were written up based on using 1/8" * 1/8" strips and is in imperial measurements, so a little adjustment to the sizes will be tolerated. This balsa tower was 12 inches tall, 8 inches wide at the base, and tapered to a 2 inch square at the top. You might have to do this while you are looking up your information. My teacher has said that the arch is the strongest bridge design, but also says that an arch would be difficult to do with balsa wood. Have a contest, work in groups. You will be using the printout to create your bridge components. To keep pieces secure while you lay them out, stick two sewing pins into the foam board at each joint. You should be working off of your usb flash memory stick. I use this as an intro activity before students design balsa wood towers or bridges. Truss bridges are type of beam bridge supported by crossing posts above the bridge, and arch bridges are supported by large arches below the roadway of the bridge. Below is a list of support resources you will be using with your bridge build. Again, let your bridge dry for as long as possible. Draw both the sides of your bridge with the trusses included to scale and the overhead view of your bridge. Next, cut the pieces from the wood with a saw and arrange them on top of your drawing so you know where they all fit on the bridge. Civil Engineers - skills, knowledge, education, Building the the Most Efficient Wooden Truss Bridge, Both super-structure, road bed and sub-structure may be used, Triangles are much stronger than four sided figures, Bridge span must have ten mm gap from support system, Template shows maximum length, width, and height, Bridge width must be full width to fit test block, Ten mm maximum above road bed surface (top of bridge support system), Review peer Power Point presentations for more ideas, Open Illustrator and select New File with the following settings, Advanced and pick 72 dpi for raster effects, Edit > Preferences > Guide and Grids, set grid to 5 mm, Press Shift F8 (for object information box), Select Rectangle tool (m) and left click on art board, put in 200mm for width and 5 mm for height, Select the selection tool (v) and select beam on art board, then ctrl C to copy, then ctrl F to paste on top, then click and drag beam down so there are two parallel to each other, Select Rectangle tool (m) and left click on art board, put in 5mm for width and 50 mm for height to make a support member, Use Selection tool (v) to move the support member in between both beams in the center, select and move bottom beam so that it touches bottom of support member, Use Selection tool (v) and select the middle support member and ctrl C to copy, ctrl F to paste on top, In the object information box, select 45 degrees in the rotate box, then select middle anchor top and pull to top beam, do the same for the bottom, Zoom in rolling the middle mouse button and pressing the alt button at the same time to view the top intersection of 45 degree support member and top beam, Click and hold the pen tool fly out, select add anchor, then add an anchor point where the beam intersects the support member, Click and hold the pen tool fly out, select subtract anchor, then delete anchor point(s) above beam line, Do the same for the bottom of the support beam, then move 45 degree support member to the left, select both the straight original support beam and the 45 degree beam, ctrl C, ctrl V, then move copy beside on the right, Using the selection tool (v) right click on a 45 degree beam, select Transform > Reflect, In the Reflect window, select vertical, select preview, then copy, Finish by adjusting the length of the top and bottom beams, using the selection tool (V), click and drag middle anchor of beams, Alt roll centre mouse button to live zoom, Space bar and left click to pan your work, You can only undo your last mistake once ctrl z, Use the direct selection icon tool to move individual points of a shape, Use View > Outline to view just the line, view > preview to view regular view, When moving a shape, after starting to move, press shift, and it will lock on the x or y axis as you move the shape, Most importantly,right click on several components, use Transform >Reflect whenever possible to copy symmetrical bridge components. The materials cost about $30, and they are good for 40 students to build their own motors. in relation to our final task which is to build one. The bridge truss designs above show three variations based on the King Post type. First tape your drawing to the corrugated cardboard, then place your wax paper over top of your bridge drawing and tape it down also. Below are a number of related online links you could use to start your research: Once your group has their topic and understands the direction and purpose of your topic, break it down into 4 to 6 related sub-topics. http://www.specializedbalsa.com/products/tools.php, https://sites.google.com/a/wyckoffschools.org/stem-grade-8/2-types-of-bridges, http://www.historyofbridges.com/facts-about-bridges/types-of-bridges/, http://www.explainthatstuff.com/bridges.html, http://www.garrettsbridges.com/design/lateral-bracing/. Last Updated: August 4, 2021 This bridge won the 2004 GA State Science Olympiad Bridge Building competition. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Cutting diagonal pieces, must be accurate and placed properly for maximum strength. q H=_QzY1Hp$2NQFgPn]raP(uxkiMeMp0wmVyLhsdZlq7U. Look closely in the third sample and note how the floor bed has been created on top of beams: Ensure you fill out your Bridge Evaluation report properly. X Note the Sample Final B and C shows the reflected red outline of bridge components that were reflected. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. It weighed 9.47 grams, spanned 35cm, and held 15kg without breaking. This twenty-seven page magazine is completely reproducible, is intended for classroom or home use, and contains articles, word puzzles, and activities, Vegetable Vocabulary, Singular & Plural Nouns, & A Read Aloud, Stone Soup, Grades 1-3 Expanding/Bridging," can be used in a variety of ways to complement your existing ELD, ELL, ESL, and/or EFL curriculum. A few other bridges used too much or too little balsa wood, have poor designs, or do not look look. You are to show 4 orthographic views top, bottom, front, and right side of bridge design. There are several types of bridge construction. Students then cut each piece, glue on top of their design (the waxed paper keeps the sticks from sticking to the design page), an. In our case it is to build the most efficient load bearing model bridge with the given materials. 
Plus, these are two of the simpler types of bridges to engineer.