A design of a bridge, explaining about the forces that act upon its structure.
- Your bridge has to span a gap of 75 cm and has a maximum length of 100 cm.
- Dimensions are shown in mm or cm (show units in your design!)
- As a stand-in for a real truck, a small toy truck will be used. The bridge has to be able to carry the truck plus its load, weighing in at 1 kg.
- The truck has to be able to drive over the bridge. You need to add a road, the structure needs to allow a truck with a width and height of 8 cm to pass unhindered.
- For information on different basic bridge types, you can use the appended information and the webpage that can be found on the internet (http://fromspaghettitobridge.weebly.com)
- Calculations on the forces playing a role have to be included:
- Where does it apply? (‘starting point’)
- How big is the force? (‘magnitude’, use unit N for F)
- Direction of the force (up, down, or diagonal?)
- The structure has to be able to withstand all forces without collapsing. This means it has to be able to take the weight of the truck, its load and the weight of the bridge itself.
A model of the bridge that one of the group members has designed.
The materials you can use are spaghetti, one type of tape, one type of string (cotton, 1mm diameter). These will be supplied.