earthquake
Tags: Science, Elasticity, Plasticity
The Mission
In science class, we were challenged to act like civil engineers and design a tower that could survive a massive earthquake on our classroom shake table!
Our building had to meet these strict rules:
Be at least 30 cm tall.
Only use our limited supply of skewers, and connectors.
Our plan of the tower tower standing tall.
The Science Behind the Build: Elasticity vs. Plasticity
Before we started building, we had to learn how materials respond to forces so we could choose the right ones for our structure:
Elasticity is… something that you can bend
In our building, we used wooden skewers for elasticity because.. It can hold together to make it stronger
Plasticity is… plastic the hard and can’t bend
In our building, we used hard plastic connectors for plasticity because… it is strong in earthquake
Our Design & Strategy
When drawing our plan, my group decided to use a square shape but we decided it to be a pyramid for our frame because we think it strong enough
Here is how we put our tower together:
- The Base: many skewers these 3d prinded thing
- The Dampers/Joints: idk what it mean
The Shake Table Test!
It was time for the ultimate test! We placed our tower onto the shake table and held our breath…
Magnitude 7 Test (Violent Shaking): only like to part fall down the rest stayed up
Caption: Testing our structure under extreme shaking!*
Evaluation and Analysis
Our structure survive during the shake table assessment.
Key Observations:
- Strengths: The following design elements were particularly effective in maintaining stability:the bottom hold it while the middle was holding them all
- Areas for Improvement: Our structure experienced a plastic failure when one side fell down
- Iterative Design: If given the opportunity to refine our design, I would modify it to stop making 50 chances it might break to enhance the structural integrity.
Join the Conversation
What are your thoughts on our engineering approach? Have you personally experienced an earthquake in New Zealand? We invite you to share your insights or experiences in the comments below.