Post 2 - Friday, April 20, 2012:
K'nex Bridge Competition
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We finally finished our bridge for the competition in class. The bridge had to have the following requirements in order to compete:

- composed of less than 400 pieces
- must be at least 19.5" tall with 0.5"
- horizontal span of 35"
- vertical span of 8"

Throughout the building process, our group brainstormed three different ideas.

The first idea was a triangle piece that would lay in a V container. The bridge was supposedly to sit and just lay in the V container. However, while we were building the model, we decided to test it before it had reached the full 35". Even at ~25" the model could not hold 20 pounds and so we scrapped it.

Figure 1 - 3D model of bridge span

Figure 2 - 2D side view of bridge tower

Figure 3 - Photograph of bridge model

Our second idea consisted of a special "box" design that was repeated across the bridge. The box resembles an atom with multiple yellow pieces connecting the central atom to the outside corners. This design was able to hold a large amount of weight and was surprisingly strong and handy. We repeated these cells of atoms through horizontal bars which eventually became the bridge. The problem with the bridge was that the connections between the different cells were not strong and the rods were forced and therefore the bridge span was not able to hold more than 20 lbs. 

Figure 4 - Cell of the 'atom model'

Figure 5 - 3D rendering of the bridge tower