Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello. I am thinking of doing a project that involves bridges but I'm not usre what I should do. I thought that maybe I should test the amount of weight each type of bridge can hold, but I have to have at least five trials, so I really didn't want to make 5 bridges for each type. I thought that maybe I should do something about temperature or natural events. If you could give me any suggestions that would be awesome!

Dear Trashcan33,

A Truss bridge is a classic bridge design and the Truss is what gives the bridge its strength. There are many different types of Truss bridges and I understand that you don't want to build 5 bridges for each type. However, you could build 5 bridges total, each having a diffrent Truss design see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_brid ... uss_bridge. You could then measure how much weight each one can hold to determine which is the best Truss design (assuming same control variables such as the same building material (toothpicks) and same joint (glue)).

I think if you focus on evaluating the Truss and its effect on the strength of a bridge you'll put together a solid project and have fun doing it!

Best of Luck,

Marc

Marc had some good ideas for you.

But if you are still confused about what you would like to do for a project, be sure to try the Science Buddies Science Fair Project Guide. It's simple to use and full of great ideas.

Start here with the Topic Selection Wizard: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... gister.php

Have fun!

Ed Neu
Buffalo, MN

Hi,

Here is an interesting online simulator for building bridges. It takes into account all the terminology you need to be familiar with:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/forces.html

If you're not interested in the graphical interface, just click on the text version to get all the content.