Tuesday, May 12, 2009 By Liana Zurabyan - Liana Zurabyan Advertising Bridge building competition features destruction of student creations. (May 8, 2009) -- On the back counter of room 4201, junior Jacqueline Nazarian makes sure her safety goggles are secured on. She then starts to carefully place the weights one by one in the bucket attached to her bridge. For the whole day of April 23, in Physics and Chemistry teacher Gerald Gruss’s room, classes watched eager in anticipation to see how much the participant’s bridge can hold, and when it would finally break. Anyone was welcome to join. Students were able to buy the supplies needed for about six dollars. Then, using only their basswood and any adhesive, like glue, students set out to build their bridges. The most difficult part, of course, was the actual construction of the bridge. Each student was given were given a set of rules to follow along with their supplies. Everything from its mass, height, and weight had to be checked. To start off, the bridge’s mass couldn’t be more than 30 grams. Its dimensions also had to be at least 80 mm wide, but no higher than 250 mm. Overall, the bridge had to be about 300 mm, but not longer than 400 mm. In order to qualify, there also had to be a passage for a block to be able to pass through. “I had to make sure I had the correct measurements, otherwise I would be disqualified,” junior Grigor Khachikyan said. Students had the opportunity to make their bridge using any design they thought was necessary so that it was most efficient. “At first, I had to draw a picture of how I wanted it to look like and then I transformed it with the right measurements onto some graph paper,” Nazarian said. “I was working for a triangle shaped because they’re better for holding up the bridge.” Students anxiously waited as Gruss checked if the bridges qualified. The winner was then judged by how many kilograms of weights it can hold up compared with its own weight until it either collapses or gets too close to touching the loading location. Junior Christie Morishige never expected to take this year’s first prize for both best design and most efficient. “I did the bridge during freshman year, but the width of it was too small,” Morishige said. “This year I already knew what to expect and already had some practice.” Other winners included freshmen Daniel Tapanian for third place and Eric Nersisyan for second.

Back to the articles list