STRESSED OUT STRUCTURES

INDEX

Introduction

Purpose

Hypothesis

Materials

PART ONE

Gateway Structures

PART TWO

3D Geometric Structures: Which is Strongest?

PART THREE

Testing Buildings: Which Design is Strongest?

PART FOUR

Stronger Buildings:

Supports

PART FIVE

Stronger Buildings:  Buttresses and Struts

PART SIX

Earthquake

Simulation: Columns

PROBLEMS WITH

MY EXPERIMENT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Problems With My Experiment:

Part 1. Gateways

Making the bricks

1. The plasticine was what I worked with first but there were lots of problems. Sometimes the plasticine was too weak and other times too strong. It was too stretchy.

2. Then I made bricks out of clay. They were very crumbly at the start so I took them to a potter who fired them. They were almost indestructible after that.

Sticking the Bricks Together

1. First, I used icing sugar to stick the bricks together but it would not stay together. It was too slippery.

2. Next, I tried real brick mortar which didn’t work because the mortar was too gritty and it took too long to dry after it was put on the bricks. The bricks also didn’t stay together.

3. Then I used thin-set mortar for tiles and it was too strong. Even the straight gateway wouldn’t break!

4. Next, I tried homemade play dough. It actually worked but it was hard to put the same amount of play dough in between the bricks. This makes some bonds strong and some weak.     

Parts 3, 4 and 5: 3D Geometric Structures

Working with plasticine and bamboo skewers:

1. If the skewers were touching inside the plasticine balls the model was stronger. It was impossible to know if they were touching or not.

2. If the model was moved, the holes that the bamboo skewers made in the plasticine widened making it easer for the model to break.

3. Sometimes it was hard to keep the sand bags from resting against the other skewers.

Part 6. The earthquake:

1. The washer didn’t always start to shake at the same time.

2. Some of the columns were a little too short and didn’t touch the roof so they fell early knocking over other columns.

3. I could only do two trials with the earthquake because my mother was afraid that the washer was going to break.