Seismic Safe Spaghetti Structure

PBL Assignment: Seismic Safe Spaghetti Structure

Problem Statement: Each year, over 800 earthquakes with a Richter Scale magnitude between 5 and 6 are detected world-wide. A magnitude 5.5 quake can have an intensity of up to VII on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. Depending on the structure, this can cause light to moderate damage in well-built buildings; considerable damage in poorly built buildings.

Request: In this lab, you and your engineering team will design and build a model bridge planned for an earthquake-prone area. You will test to see how well it withstands simulated stress, strain and shearing from seismic waves. Your bridge must: • weighs less than 250g
• spans a gap of 400mm (16 inches) and is 510mm (20 inches) long
• is less than 100mm (4 inches) wide

(Click on the first picture to flip through the Earth Science students building seismic safe spaghetti structures that can withstand stress, strain and sheering)

20120125 Seismic Spaghetti

Explore: Draw a plan of your bridge on paper first. Use your imagination; the bridge can be any shape you like as long as it is the right weight, width and length. (Hint: triangles are a strong shape!)

Engage: Build your bridge out of spaghetti and glue. The glue can only be used on overlaps, intersections and joints. Check it weighs less than 250g and record the actual weight. Measure your bridge to make sure it is the correct length and width.

Evaluate: Testing time! Place the bridge between two tables or boxes 510 mm apart. Place the rod halfway along the bridge so it runs across the center. Hang a bucket off the rod. Slowly add more and more sand to the bucket until the bridge breaks. Weigh the sand, rod and bucket your bridge held. This is the load. Divide the load by the weight of the bridge. This is your load/weight ratio. The higher the load/weight ratio, the stronger your bridge. EX: Taryn and Jasmine made a bridge weighing 75g that held 675g. This means the load/weight ratio was 9.

Explain: Two important forces you have to consider are compression and tension. Compression is a force that will try to squeeze or shorten the thing it is acting on. Tension is a force that will try to lengthen or expand the thing it is acting on. A bridge needs to be able to handle these forces without buckling or snapping. A bridge will buckle when the force of compression is greater than the bridge's ability to handle compression. A bridge will snap when the force of tension overcomes an object's ability to handle tension. A good bridge design will spread the force over a greater area, or move the force from an area of weakness to an area of strength. For example: using triangles in your bridge can create both a very rigid structure and one that transfers the load from just one point to a much wider area. Bridges are designed and constructed by civil engineers. Civil engineers work on things built in or on the ground. As well as bridges, this can include railways, harbors, roads, dams, power projects, and more.

Vesta Fiesta

On July 15, NASA's ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft will become the first mission to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid.
FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/15jul_dawn2/

Eyes to Skies Friday, August 12th at 7:00 pm.
Celebrate the beginning of Dawn's year-long exploration of new worlds. After close to four years cruising at stunning speeds, the robotic spacecraft is catching up to the object of its first destination in the main asteroid belt: Vesta. Don't Dawn and Vesta deserve a fiesta?
- Come hear talks from local Solar System Educator
- Enjoy kids’ activities like the Dawn Relay Race, Is the Asteroid like a Grape or a Raisin? and Vegetable Light Curves.

The Children's Science Explorium at Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton, FL, 300 South Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33486 (Recommended for Ages 8+)

- All children under age 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
- No registration required - just show up! The telescope will be out for at least one hour after the scheduled start time.
http://www.scienceexplorium.org/family-programs
phone: (561) 347-3912
email: Explorium@myboca.us

RSA: Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

RSA - Changing Education

(Posted as a consequence of an email exchange with Kim)

The bridge is broken, but the brain that built it is strong

Congratulations to senior Natalie Eggens for her success at the 54th annual Engineering Fair on December 7, 2010 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Held in conjunction with the Science Fair, this yearly contest is meant to introduce youth to the fun and challenges of civil engineering. For the competition, high school students bring bridges they previously built. Their bridges are strong, efficient, aesthetically pleasing and made of only balsa wood and glue. After the initial judging, each bridge is brought to “The Crusher,” where physics fans watch it tested to the breaking point with a hydraulic press. After crushing their entry, bridges are judged solely by “efficiency”.

THE CRUSHER – an hydraulic bridge tester at the 54th annual Engineering Fair held at the South Florida Fairgrounds on December 7, 2010.

Bridges are to be constructed according to standard specifications to create the most efficient structure. The total mass of the complete bridge must not exceed sixteen (16.0) grams at the time of check-in, and must be made from 3/32-inch square balsa wood and any commonly available glue may be used. To determine a bridge’s efficiency, the applied weight in pounds as shown on the tester is divided by the gram mass of the bridge (for example, a 12 gram bridge that carries only 24 lbs applied is judged more efficient than a 15 gram bridge that carries 50 lbs applied 12/24 = .50 vs. 15/50 = .30).

Natalie’s bridge is the best of this year’s Seminole Ridge students in Mr. Landstrom’s AP Physics B class. Weighing just 14.9 grams, her bridge supported 12.9 pounds before failure. Her bridge is broken, but her brilliant brains are still strong! Our school’s 2nd best bridge was build by senior Mark Blanar, which at 14 grams. This year’s Engineering Fair winner comes from Suncoast High, a bridge which held 65 pounds before breaking Seminole Ridge senior Natalie Eggens (left), and Mark Blanar (right) before at the SDPBC Engineering Fair on December 7, 2010 at the South Florida Fairgrounds.

Fizzix Funday 2010: Drop It, Launch It, Thrill It

Hawks Have ‘Fizzix Funday’ - physics students showcase their science skills

Seminole Ridge HS physics students showcased their skills Wednesday, November 17, 2010 testing their “Fizzix Funday” research projects. Students chose to either ‘Drop It,’ ‘Launch It,’ or ‘Thrill It’ creating the ideal container to protect an egg from a seven-story drop, blasting off the ultimate water bottle rocket, or building the best roller coaster model. President Obama remarked in 2009 speech at the National Academy of Sciences, "I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent -- to be makers of things, not just consumers of things." Physics teacher Erich Landstrom listened to the President, and challenges his students to design, construct, and compete.
Drop It Launch It Thrill It

The Fizzix Funday began with ‘Drop It.’ The Palm Beach County Fire Department assisted in testing for the most efficient package to protect a raw large chicken egg from cracking after a seventy foot free fall from the ladder of the fire truck.

Congratulations to Arnold Banner, whose container creation weight was just 13 grams! Arnold Banner

At 11 AM, the students began ‘Launch It,’ aiming for a projectile put together around an ordinary 2 liter plastic soda bottle and fired using compressed air at 60 psi and 12 ounces of water with the greatest air aloft “hang time” launched by compressed air and water.
Congratulations to Yiro Shimabukuro and Moegamat Peck, whose “This Side Up” was airborne for 8.0 seconds! Yiro and Mo

After lunch, the students finished big with ‘Build It,’ creating a coaster with the longest ride time to go from the Start position to the Finish (with bonus points for loops and attraction). Thrill Coasters
Congratulations to Mark Blanar and Joseph Pavicic, whose “Collision Course” kept rolling along for an average of twenty two seconds! Mark Blanar and Joseph Pavicic

Fizzix Funday 2010

Fizzix Funday 2010

Seminole Ridge physics students showcase their STEM skills on Wednesday, November 17, 2010.

Erich Landstrom’s physics student will test their “Fizzix Funday” research projects to either “Drop It,” “Launch It,” or “Thrill It” – by creating the ideal container to protect an egg from a 3-story drop, building the best roller coaster model, or blasting off the ultimate water bottle rocket.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is increasingly being appreciated as the key to assuring that America cultivates a new generation of experts as well, with the skills to create the new green technologies we need to strengthen our economy in the 21st Century. Science and technology are responsible for a very large portion of America’s economic growth over the past 50 years. And scientists and engineers today are in the best position to solve many of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world.

8:30 – 10:30 AM - drop it: design the lightest package to protect a raw egg from cracking after a five-story free fall; (schedule subject to change)

11 AM – 1 PM launch it: put a projectile with the greatest air aloft “hang time” launched by compressed air and water.

1 PM – 3 PM - thrill it: create a coaster with the longest ride time to go from the Start position to the Finish (with bonus points for loops and attraction)

Watch the Fizzix Funday 2008 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjmPmzkg7U
See the Fizzix Funday 2009 fotos at
http://seminolesecme.blogspot.com/2009/11/hawks-have-fizzix-funday.html