Straw Bridges
Students design, build and test truss bridges made of straws and tape to see how much weight they can support.
Each group needs:
- 20 plastic drinking straws
- masking tape
- scissors
- 1 sheet of paper
- pencil or marker
For the class to share:
- measuring stick or ruler
- various hardcover and softcover books to use as weights
- 2 desks or tables of equal height from the floor, to serve as the testing station
- scale, one that can weigh a minimum of 3 lbs. (~1.4 kg)
The most common type of bridge is a beam bridge—a structure made of horizontal, rigid beams whose ends rest on two columns. The load of the bridge is supported by the columns. Load refers to the bridge’s own weight that needs to be supported, as well as any weight that is added to the bridge such as cars, trucks and people. A truss bridge is a type of beam bridge that has triangular units to distribute the load and support the bridge.
Example truss bridge designs.Copyright 2006 ITL Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
Overview
Your engineering challenge is to design and build a bridge that can span a gap while holding as much weight as possible. Your materials are straws and tape, and your bridge must meet the design constraints.
Bridge Design and Construction
- Organize the students into groups of three.
- Hand out paper and a writing utensil to each group.
- Show students some images of truss bridges (or show the images provided in this write-up).
- Inform students of the following design constraints:
- bridge must be at least 10 inches (25 cm) in length and able to span an 8-inch (20-cm) gap
- bridge must be able to securely hold gradually added weight placed in its center until it fails (begins to bend)
- bridge must incorporate a truss design
- bridge must be made of 20 (or fewer) straws
- groups may not receive any replacement straws
- bridge may not be taped to the desk
- Direct groups to brainstorm design ideas for their bridges and record and sketch their ideas on the paper (5-7 minutes). Advise students to carefully plan out their bridges before cutting the straws since they will not receive any replacement materials.
- After every group member has presented his/her ideas, have groups each decide on one bridge to build.
- Give teams 30 minutes to create their bridges.
- Tip: It may be difficult for small hands to figure out the taping of straws that are at add odd angles to each other. Circulate the room to assist students with any construction challenges they encounter.
Bridge Testing
- Make a testing station by placing two desks (or tables) approximately 8 inches (20 cm) apart.
- One-by-one, help each group test its bridge:
- Place the bridge across the gap between the two desks, positioning it with equal lengths of bridge ends resting on each desk (see Figure 1).
- Slowly place one book on top of the bridge.
- Continue to add books until the bridge fails or noticeably begins to bend (do not add so much weight that the bridges are ruined).
Figure 1. Bridge placement for testing.Copyright 2006 ITL Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
- Direct students to weigh the books that were successfully supported before the bridge collapsed. This means removing from the stack of books the last book, the one that caused the bridge to collapse.
- Write the group’s total weight on the classroom board.
- If time permits, have students make improvements to their bridges and retest.
- As a class, examine the class data, and ask and discuss the Thought Questions.
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2016 by Regents of the University of Colorado