FETTUCINI PHYSICS

Applied Physics is participating in a bridge building program. All materials and tools will be supplied by the school. All students will read about and answer questions related to the history, purpose, and structure of bridges. They will write a research paper about a specific topic dealing with bridges as well as construct a bridge with a limited amount of fettucini noodles and tape. Questions about their project will be answered by the student at the conclusion of the project.

OBJECTIVE-To provide students with an understanding of:

1)The technological development of bridges throughout history and their contribution to society.
2)The principles that apply to the science of bridge building.
3)The construction techniques and creative skills that are necessary for a winning design.

INTRODUCTION-

Many students don't realize that a structure must be designed to withstand different forces. Some forces are obvious and then some are not so obvious. Everybody knows that if you build a bridge and a truck drives across it, the bridge needs to hold the weight of the truck. How many students realize that the bridge is also supporting its own weight!

Structures need to be designed to withstand other forces, too, besides just the weight of the objects that they hold. Engineers need to consider lots of forces and how they effect the structure that they are designing. They have to design bridges and buildings that can withstand forces due to wind, earthquakes, etc.

In this activity, students will design and build a support structure that will hold a certain amount of weight (example: a Physics textbook). After this has been successfully accomplished, more weight will be added (example: adding another Physics textbook). The structure that can hold the most weight without collapsing will be the winner. Ties will be broken by determining which structure was the lightest.