Post 3 - Friday, April 27, 2012:
K'nex Bridge Competition
--------------------------------

In the bridge competition, our bridge was only able to hold 10 lbs. of weight before breaking.

The rules have been updated now so that the bridge height must be between 8''-19.5'', this new rule adds a new element to the contest. Now we can spend less pieces on the height, and focus more on the span. In addition, we realized that we had less blue pieces than all the other groups, so we picked up more blue pieces.

Our final design now incorporates a 45 degree angle connecting the pillars to the span as to reduce stress throughout the entire bridge as opposed to just the span and tops of the pillars. As you can see below in figure 1, the bridge also has 360 degree connectors between each level of the span to reduce stress in all directions on the span. Finally in figure 2, you can see the design as a whole for the final competition. We tested the bridge and it was able to hold 20 lbs on the bridge for one minute.

Figure 1 - The bridge inner level incorporating the 360 degree connectors

Figure 2 - The bridge with 45 degree connections from the pillar to the span