Keeping You in Suspens(ion) Weight?

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ekward
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 9:46 am
Occupation: Teacher

Keeping You in Suspens(ion) Weight?

Post by ekward »

About how many pennies do I need to test the bridges? I will have 13 groups so I want to make sure I have enough materials on hand.

Thanks!
theborg
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Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:26 pm
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Project Question: "To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of anything." - Sir Isaac Newton
Project Due Date: N/A
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Keeping You in Suspens(ion) Weight?

Post by theborg »

ekward,

Thank you for the question and welcome to the forum. The amount of weight will depend on the materials you use (cheep straws, etc...) and how well they are constructed. So I would expect results to vary from bridge to bridge. However, when I did this experiment, my stronger suspension bridge averaged 200 pennies before collapsing. The directions suggest having at least 350 for each experiment, so you'd need 4,550 pennies for 13 groups. If this is to much, you can use something heavier, like quarters, which should cut down the number of coins needed per group to around 150 each.
Hope this helps.

theborg
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