Bridge Demolition

Team: 83

School: McCurdy High

Area of Science: Civil Engineering

Interim: The Breaking Point of a Bridge

Background: We have built a Warren truss bridge out of pop-stickles using a 60 degree angle. We are looking for its max weight that it can carry. The bridge is glued together using Elmer’s white glue. One bridge took us about 3-4 week to build. All of the angles are precise using a protractor. In the future we will need to use a skill saw to make more intricate and challenging bridges such as the “K” truss and the “Howe” bridge.




Hypothesis: Carlos- It will hold 200 lbs.
Louis- It will hold 250 lbs
Justin- It will hold 275lbs.
We want to know how much weight each bridge can hold when using three different angles. (45, 60, and 75 degrees).


Set Up: We are going to build several different bridges then use a strain gauge to get our data.



Problems: We have problems finding a strain gauge, the time it takes to build the bridge. Also we need to get a video camera, so we can record how much weight it can hold, and to see where the stress points are.

Team Members:

  Carlos Herrera
  Louis Jaramillo
  Justin Garcia
  Ron Devargas

Sponsoring Teacher: Robert Dryja

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