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1st Annual Student Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest –

December 9th, 2009




SUMMARY

Nathan Hale High School Physics Classes welcome you to participate in our first annual spaghetti bridge building competition that is modeled after a spaghetti bridge competition conducted each year at Okanogan College in Kelowna, BC.

At Hale, constructing spaghetti bridges allows us to apply our understanding of forces and Newton’s Laws in a fun and interesting way. We hope that you will join us by constructing bridges and entering our competition. The contest will start with the breaking of previously constructed bridges and will be followed with a 90 minute construction project that will pit various teams from different schools in the construction of an all new bridge for a second competition. Registration will be limited to the first 50 bridges to sign up.

ENTRY FORMS

Entry forms are available online here.ZwODNuNDN0MTNjVkhndE9HMXc6MA

Please enter no later than Wednesday, November 25th.

REGISTRATION

The on-site registration of previously constructed bridges will begin at 12:00 pm, Wednesday, December 9th in the foyer of Nathan Hale’s Performing Arts Center. Bridges arriving after 1:00 pm may not be accepted for competition. The breaking of bridges will begin at 1:30 pm.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

12:00 to 1:00PM Bridge Registration and Lunch

1:30 to 3:00PM Heavyweight Bridge Breaking Competition

3:00PM Awards for Heavyweight Bridges

3:30 to 5:00PM Quick Design Team Construction

5:00 to 6:00PM Quick Design Bridge Breaking Competition

6:00PM Quick Design Awards

 

CONTESTS

Heavyweight Competition: students work individually or in teams to build a spaghetti bridge to support the maximum amount of weight possible (see Heavyweight contest rules for details). Each bridge must be completed prior to the Spaghetti Bridge Contest.

Quick Design and Build Competition: Student teams will work together for 90 minutes to construct a bridge from scratch that will support a 10 kg mass.

AWARDS

Heavyweight Competition: The top ten bridges in terms of load supported during the loading test will be ranked according to maximum load and awarded prizes accordingly. In the case of identical load supported, preference will be given to the lighter bridge.


Quick Design and Build Competition: The top ten bridges in terms of minimum bridge weight able to support a 10 kg mass will be ranked according to weight (with the lightest bridge given the highest rank) and awarded prizes accordingly.

FURTHER INFORMATION

More information, entry forms, and copies of the rules are available from our website:

www.hale.seattleschools.org/spaghettibridges

or contact: Karl Englert at kjenglert@seattleschools.org

PICTURES

See Pictures of past bridges here

RULES:

At least one builder of each bridge entered must accompany the bridge to the contest. These bridges must be constructed prior to the competition and brought to Nathan Hale for the competition on December 9th.

Materials

The bridge shall be built using any commercial pasta product. The pasta may NOT be altered in any way other than cutting to size.

Commercial glue, including hot glue, or epoxy shall be the only joining material and may not be used as a structural member. It is intended that glue be used for joints only; continuous strands of glue running along the length of any member are not allowed.

The maximum allowable mass of the bridge (without bridge loading support block) will be 1.0 kg.

Dimensions (see Figure 1)

The maximum vertical depth of the bridge from the highest point to the lowest point shall not exceed 500mm.

The lowest point of the unloaded bridge shall not be more than 100mm below a horizontal line running between the two end support surfaces.

The bridge must span a distance greater than 1.0 m (the end supports are 1.0 m apart and on the same level so a bridge 1.0 m in length would fall through between the supports).

Figure 1: Overall Bridge Dimensions

Road Deck

To provide a suitable road surface, the bridge must have a solid, continuous road deck consisting of lasagna that is at least 50mm wide and covers the FULL length of the bridge except for a hole where the bolt for the bridge loading support block goes through the bridge. The lasagna must be conventional lasagna and may NOT be altered other than cutting.


The solid road deck may have up to six joints running across the road deck. Gaps between joints may not exceed 10mm.

A block of wood (50mm x 50mm x 100mm long), representing a car, must be able to pass unobstructed from end to end across the bridge along the top surface of the road deck.

All parts of the unloaded solid road deck must be within 30mm of a horizontal line drawn between the top surfaces of the end supports (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Bridge Deck Vertical Position

Bridge Loading and Support

An official "bridge loading support block", 40mm X 40 mm X 200mm with a bolt for loading will be sent to schools upon request. Contact Karl Englert at kjenglert@seattleschools.org to obtain a bridge loading support block.