Now that the 2007 Science Olympiad season is well over, I am releasing photos of a concept boomilever I made before regionals. Here is a video of the testing of the boomilever: The boomilever broke because of all the force that was applied outwards on the bottom chords. The boomilever simply “split” apart and the … Read more
Objective: To build a boomilever with the greatest efficiency. There are two basic types of boomilevers. First is the tension boomilever, where the tension chord is longer than the compression chord. Second there is the compression boomilever, which is the opposite of the tension. It is generally accepted that the tension…
I just found some old photos of my first ever Science Olympiad bridge from 2000. The bridge weighed 58 grams if my memory serves me well. It held the entire 15kg with ease. It probably could have held 100lbs because it was so overbuilt. This was at my first every Science Olympiad competition at Gordon … Read more
This bridge was definitely not my best, but it does bring back memories. It was the second bridge built by my old Science Olympiad Bridge Building partner, David, and I. As you can see, we were still in the beginning of our bridge building career. I assume David is still building bridges, as his father … Read more
This balsa bridge was built by some students of mine for a Science Olympiad competition. It spanned 14 inches, weighed 8.1 grams, and held 29 pounds. That puts its efficiency at 1630.
This bridge won the 2004 GA State Science Olympiad Bridge Building competition. It weighed 9.47 grams, spanned 35cm, and held 15kg without breaking. The efficiency score was 1584. This bridge was made completely from Basswood. No Balsa or other wood was used. The top chord was made from 2 sticks of 1/16″ square pieces, laminated … Read more
This tower was 24 inches tall, 6 inches wide at the base, tapering to a 1 & 1/2 inch square at the middle. This tower weighed 7.0 grams, and held 11kg for 2nd place at the 2005 GA Science Olympiad State Finals. I am in the middle of building a tower for my Science Olympiad … Read more
An L-beam is more efficient than a square the same width. It is not going to hold as much, but it is going to be more efficient. An L-beam is also more efficient than a square with the same mass of wood. Of course, you have to count in the glue weight for an L-beam.Balsa, … Read more