Shake table!
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 when an object has the ability to go back to the shape it was before if it was a ruler etc.
In our building, we used wooden skewers for elasticity because, if we didn’t have any elasticity in the model it would easily collapse
Plasticity is when an object has the ability to stay permanently.
In our building, we used hard plastic connectors for plasticity because the building can stay connected together.
Our Design & Strategy
When drawing our plan, my group decided to use squares
for our frame, but we didnt know that triangles are more stronger then squares, because
Here is how we put our tower together:
- The Base: we connected the bamboo sticks together
- The Joints: the joints absorbed the energy because their plastic
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): it didn’t survive for two seconds
Caption: Testing our structure under extreme shaking!*
Evaluation and Analysis
Our structure collapsed during the shake table assessment.
Key Observations:
- Strengths: The following design elements were particularly effective in maintaining stability: the bottom square survived the longest.
- Areas for Improvement: Our structure experienced an plastic failure when, the joints disconnected from the sticks
- Iterative Design: If given the opportunity to refine our design, I would modify the whole thing and turn it into triangles 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.