Johnny’s 5th grade class had a science-engineering project to build a weight bearing tower. How fun is that! So, the first thing we did was talk to Jason and he drew us a great design in CAD.
After a couple weeks of procrastination, we finally got started. Gluing up the popsicle sticks to make the legs, floors and braces took forever…well, the construction did too! But Johnny and I had a ton of fun doing it together.
Each corner leg is 6 ply, the top and bottom floors are 4 ply and all the bracing is 3 ply. We drilled and pegged (with skewers) each joint, then wrapped the joint with kite string and smeared glue over the string. It was really fun to watch the tower get stronger with each brace we added.
There are two categories in the competition up for grabs. 1. The tower that supports the most weight. 2. The best tower weight to load capacity ratio. We’ll find out in a couple weeks how we did! Unfortunately, Johnny will be out of town the night of the competition, so we’ll find someone to video it for us.
Here are some fun facts:
1. Over 1200 popsicle sticks
2. Over 100 yards of string
3. Over 12 feet of skewers
4. 32 ounces of Elmer’s wood glue
5. Over 30 hours of work!
Looks awesome, but there is another picture that didn't make the blog...
ReplyDeleteNo idea what you are talking about. English only in the blog.
ReplyDeleteStill think you need to find a King Kong doll to hang off the side of it...
ReplyDeleteWhat? There is a picture missing? Oh...you mean the one with the finishing brackets on it? Johnny still has to put those on there.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think he is talking about the picture of the tower with bats sitting on it.
ReplyDeleteWTF are 'bats'?
ReplyDeleteI think you should start a pool on how much weight it will hold. My guess is 400 lbs.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is 435.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing 375. But I hope I'm wrong! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, Johnny ended up placing 2nd in the competition. Not because another tower held more weight, but because there were other towers that didn’t break. They then moved on to the kid’s reports to determine who 'won'. I still think his would have held the most weight, especially after seeing the other towers... But, the school only had 150lbs.
ReplyDelete