This term, we’re looking at how to make bridges and today we looked specifically at arch and beam bridges. Using piles of books and card, we investigated how to reinforce the structure to improve its strength. To begin with, we placed a piece of card over two piles of books 15cm apart and placed objects (pencils, wooden discs and plastic wheels) on the card to test its strength. We then reinforced the card by adding an arch below and through creating corrugation by folding the card. We had to be careful not to rest the weights on the piles of books because then the strength of the bridge wasn’t being properly tested.
With some bridges not reinforced sufficiently, we had a total collapse:
With reinforcement, the bridges were able to hold more items:
With an arch, corrugation and more than one layer, our bridges were able to hold a lot of weight:
That looks very ,very ,very ,very FUN!!!!!!!!!!