During the first unit of The Engineering Society, members engaged in a bridge building competition to expand their knowledge of civil engineering.
The members based their designs on several different types of bridges that are used in real life scenarios. These bridges varied in arch, beam, and truss design. They undertook the task of replicating a design of their choice using spaghetti and tape. The members of the club formed teams, and had the freedom to create a bridge that spanned twelve inches. The goal was to hold a significant amount of weight using any of these variations in design.
The Results
The various options led to vastly different results from each group. Some of the bridges nearly held the maximum amount of weight that was used during the competition. The largest amount of weight these bridges supported was a staggering 10,060 grams from group 3’s bridge.
Co-President Oliver Ikard (’23) expressed his satisfaction from each groups results in the competition, regardless of the time constraints that he previously thought may have been a hinderance to their progress.
“With the limited 25 minute community time period, it was a difficult task to determine what would be engaging for the club members. However, with the bridge-building idea, using spaghetti noodles and tape, we found a spark of creativity in every club member with the open-ended format.”
He also added that this competition bolstered the creativity of the members.
“My favorite part of the competition had to be the enthusiasm the members brought to the activity.”
Moving Forward
Now, the Engineering Society will move on to the Mechanical Engineering unit. This unit will feature another project in which members will make complex mechanical systems with simple objects. In the following semester, the Engineering Society will move on to Electrical and Aerospace Engineering units.
Thank you to Oliver Ikard ’23, Alex Tinker ’23, and Mr. Von Schlehenried for preparing such a great learning experience.
Stay tuned to The Roundup for more Engineering Society news!