Bridge Engineering Challenge Analysis

1. The biggest strengths of my bridge included the bases, which were cubes built
with cross supports, making them very resistant to weight. Another strength was that I
built a double story bridge, and this caused the ability for the structure to hold more
weight. The using of cross and diagonally-positioned sticks throughout the whole
complex provided stability and strength because it gave it was insusceptible to the
distortion of pushing and pulling of stress.
2. While my bridge didnt break, it did bend in such way that cars wouldnt be able
to drive through, nor boats to pass beneath it. The design was flexible, possibly because
the joints werent glued well together, so while weight was added during the test, the
whole top part of the bridge started flexing to the side, taking the appearance of a
crumpled tin. The weakness here was that there was no support inside the walls of the
structure to hold them in so it wouldnt have this deflection.
3. In the future, to improve this design, I would add more cross supports all over the
bridge, and make sure the joints are attached appropriately to each other. To avoid it
from twisting inwards, I would place sticks in a V position- this way, it creates a force that
pushes out when it tries to squeeze in. Also, by creating a more stable platform would
help since this is the one thats taking the weight directly.
4. The mass of my bridge was of 83.6 grams.
5. My bridge held approximately 9 kilos.
6. The efficiency of my bridge was of 107,7, meaning it held 107 times its own
weight.
(9 x 1000 = 9,000 / 83.6 = 107,7)