toothpick bridges

[Artemis]

Has anyone else had to build a toothpick bridge for a physics class? I have to, and it's driving me crazy! :drunk: :cross: I feel like I'm getting nowhere on the stupid thing, and I've probably already put 12 hours into it... :bawl: It's also pretty much frying my brain. After 3 hours straight of working on it, you'd really better not bug me or I'll probably snap and do something I may or may not regret later...I'm taking this a sign that architecture is [i]not[/i] for me!
If you guys did have the assignment, what sort of design did you use? I can't really take any of them for myself at this point since mine's already drawn up and construction has begun, but I'm curious.
~art~

[AzureWolf]

I've never had to make a toothbrick bridge, but we did have to make a tower out of one 8[size=1]1/2[/size] in. x 11 in. paper and 50 cm of tape. The larger, the more points you would get. There was obviously a theoretical limit, so you knew what you could and couldn't do. Not to bog you down in the funny details, but my partner and I made the largest one in our class. You wouldn't believe how complicated people were getting, with these outrages structures and either too thin or too wide shapes.

The point is, make sure you understand your structure, and why it is stable. It'll probably end up being less complicated and creative than you envisioned, but it'll be more stable and reliable than the competition's. If you overcomplicate, you are more likely to miss factors you should have considered, and your structure will suffer.

[Chichiri's Girl]

Well back in Tech ed before we switched to mr. Daniels we had to do moduels with Mr. Burman. Figured i got stuck with Enginering bridges with a partner who spent all the time we suppose to be working on our bridge flirtting or just ruining her side of the bridge. So when we had the last session my half was completed her half...well she messed it up so much she didn't have a half. Then we had to build towers out o wood and a few peices of tape. My group came in 2nd or first I can't really remeber. But for advice? I'd say just look at pictures of bridges and stuff and choose an easy design.*shrugs*

[Ryu_Sakura]

Oh, that project was easy, I did it in 6th grade. Just use lots of triangles, and lots of glue where they join.
TIP: make sure it is even on all sides, one little mistake and your doomed! mwhahahahaha...


It fried my brain too, escpecialy when another girl whom I have hated for a long time, "acidently" picked up (Naomisan24 and mine's) bridge and droped it, shattering all our work, we almsot failed the class, but due to my quick thinking I figured out how we could finish the bridge in less then 5 hours. Heh and it worked too.

[Transtic Nerve]

I had to do a popsickle stick bridge once... and we won the little competition or how much weight it could hold... me and my friend made it... I designed it though lol.

Always reinforce everything with something else. Figure out where the weight is gonne be focused then reinforce that are or toothpick or whatever. Use lots of glue, then use more. If you have wood glue, use that.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]Ergh, we had to build bridges out of plastic straw in my eighth grade shop class (yes, I took shop; yes, it was required). It was such a pain in the ?you know what?, and my partner was nearly as intelligent as a brick wall. Needless to say my bridge collapsed quite early in the competition?

Anyway, good luck with the project?
[/color]

[Drix D'Zanth]

This topic is one of the gems illustrating the declining quality of the Lounge. I honestly belive we should re-inject the thread with better topics than "I'm making a tooth-pick bridge, have you?". I am completely aware with how difficult it can be as almost everything has been discussed and that's everyone's fault I suppose.

Please people, think of something better than [i]this[/i].
I'll let this continue utnill it becomes repetative.

[Motfati]

[size=1]Yeah, I remember doing those wierd, pointless, little things in 5th grade TAG. They were wierd and pointless. I was the architect because I was the only one that could draw. One girl was the person who went and bought stuff (supplies: toothpicks, glue, etc.). Two guys built and uh...yeah. Ours held about 60 pounds I think (seriously, I'm not lying!). Yeah, it was wierd and pointless...[/size]

[Artemis]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Drix D'Zanth [/i]
[B]This topic is one of the gems illustrating the declining quality of the Lounge. I honestly belive we should re-inject the thread with better topics than "I'm making a tooth-pick bridge, have you?". I am completely aware with how difficult it can be as almost everything has been discussed and that's everyone's fault I suppose.

Please people, think of something better than [i]this[/i].
I'll let this continue utnill it becomes repetative. [/B][/QUOTE]

ouch
Forgive me, Oh-Savy-One. :rolleyes:
I was about half-crazy from the stupid bridge when I posted this thread. Sorry about that.
I figured a bunch of architecture students would have interesting stories about various projects they'd done. From what I've heard, all of them at Kansas State are crazy nocturnal people...:drunk: lol
Anyway, I'll try to be better, Drix... :D

[Carr]

[color=tomato] [size=1] No luck on the toothpick bit, but I did have to make a pasta bridge last year in physics class. Alas, I did not win, but the bridge was sprifferific.
[url]http://www.lhsar.org/classes/science/physics/index.html[/url] Mine is the one at the top left, or I'm the one in the bright orange.

I think you could probably do the same thing with tooth picks. The design impresses teachers It looks like you put a lot of work into it![/size] [/color]