Toothpick Bridge.
What is a toothpick bridge?
The name is pretty self explanatory, a toothpick
bridge is a bridge like structure made of wooden toothpicks. It is usually assigned to engineering students so they can improve their skills in certain aspects of their future career, such as structural strength, capacity, resilience, and creativity. |
So if we aren't engineering students...
Why are we doing a toothpick bridge?
In Mythbusters we are building a toothpick bridge, because Ms. Smith wants to offer us the possibility of exploring of different engineerings from a young age. She does this so we can consider engineering as career path, a hobby, or to just have fun; though this is not the only reason she does this. She wants us to develop some vital life skills in her class such as: facing struggles with tenacity, indentifyng
our own weaknesses, solving our problems, and coming up with creative solutions. |
Goals and Expectations.
For this project we were expected to build
"a [toothpick] bridge that will allow cars to pass over a waterway" (Smith 1). To have a successful bridge there are certain requirements that have to be fulfilled; the requirements are efficiency (the use of less materials), aesthetically pleasing (pleasant to look at), and effectiveness (able to hold the most mass). |
Measurements.
It is mandatory for all the toothpick bridges built in our classroom
to follow certain measurement guidlines set by the teacher. This is
done to assure everyone has a fair chance in becoming the bridge
with the most efficiency. From the bases to the middle part of the
bridge there must be at least a 2 inch difference, the length should
be at least a 12 inches, and the width 2.5 inches. Besides those basic
guidlines we are allowed to be as creative as we want, as long as we
dont go over 8 inches in height.
to follow certain measurement guidlines set by the teacher. This is
done to assure everyone has a fair chance in becoming the bridge
with the most efficiency. From the bases to the middle part of the
bridge there must be at least a 2 inch difference, the length should
be at least a 12 inches, and the width 2.5 inches. Besides those basic
guidlines we are allowed to be as creative as we want, as long as we
dont go over 8 inches in height.
Materials.
The materials we are allowed to have in our final
porotype are: -Toothpicks -Glue The materials we are alloed to use for the planification and building of the bridge are: -Wax paper -Pencil |
|
Procedure.
1. Study bridge desings.
2. Pick a bridge desingyou believe is going tobe sucessful and follows all the crieria. 3. Sketch the desing chosen. 4. Divide desing into different 2D sections. 5. Draw the 2D sections on the wax paper. 6. Place the toothpicks on the lines that follow the desing. 7. Glue the toothpicks. 8. Let the toothpicks dry. 9. When all the toothpicks are dry attach them togther, so the 3D bridge can be formed. 10. When the bridge is all glued togther reinforce any weak aspects of it. 11. The bridge is ready! |
|
Now that I know what to do I must...
Build my Bridge!
I am now done building, meaning it is...
Testing Time!
Mass.
The mass of the bridge is 178 grams.
How much it held.
The bridge was able to hold 12.005 kilograms.
Efficiency.
The efficiency of the bridge was only 67%
Strengths.
The mayor strengths were the bases and the cross-sticks at the top of the structure.
Weaknesses.
The main visible weakness was the middle section of the bridge. This is were my bridge want under to 2 inches, resulting in "boats" not being able to pass under it.
Future Improvements.
If I were given the chance to improve my bridge I wouls strengthen the middle section, given it was the weakest. To do this I would place the toothpicks closer to one another, so that they could sustain more weight.
Analysis.
In the beginning of the semester Ms. Smith assigned the mythbusters class the challenge of building "a [toothpick] bridge that will allow cars to pass over a waterway" (Smith 1). To have a successful bridge there were certain requirements that had to be fulfilled; the requirements were efficiency (the use of less materials), aesthetically pleasing (pleasant to look at), and effectiveness (able to hold the most mass). In the process of building my bridge I encountered various challenges, which made the assigned task seem unappealing, preposterous and impossible to complete. I was dared by my teacher to overcome the difficulties the bridge imposed by myself, to achieve this I had to learn to research, understand, and observe numerous aspects of engineering and bridge building I never knew of before. Though it proved to be a challenge I managed to build a bridge that met the expectations by myself; however, Ms. Smith still provided support in a few minor aspects of the bridge. When the testing of the bridge occurred I very clearly was able to identify the bases of the bridge as it greatest strength; the cross sticks positioned at the top of the structure were easily noticed as another major advantage. But when testing the wooden structure there were some obvious weaknesses that made the bridge collapse; the main flaw that I was able to pinpoint was that the middle section of the bridge wasn't strong enough, resulting in it bending under two inches. If I were given the chance to improve my bridge I would most definitely put the toothpicks closer to each other to assure most strength and stability in the middle, probably resulting in the bridge being able to hold more weight. While the structure was able to hold 12.005 kilograms, which is indeed an impressive amount of weight it didn't hold the expected amount based on its mass. The bridge’s mass was 178 grams resulting in the efficiency of my bridge only being 67%; if it were able to hold 100% of it’s own weight then it should have been able to hold around 18 kilograms. Even Though my bridge had its weaknesses and disadvantages it was mostly a relatively successful structure.