Structure Project 2001

The Box

By: Brianne , Emily , Andrew , Michael , and Kevin 

The Structure Project

On August 28, 2001 Our Honors Geometry class was given our first project.  We had to create a structure that was at least 9"tall and held at least 25lbs.  We went into this project feeling totally lost and coming out full of new info.

In doing this project we learned about tension, compression, and rigidity. 

Tension,  is any force which tends to extend a body lengthwise.  For example a rubber band when you pull on it is in tension.  

Compression, is a force that tends to shorten the force.  For example, a sponge when you push on it, it is in compression.

Rigidity, is being able to put tension and compression on an object and it keep it's shape.  For example, a triangle is rigid.

It is very important how any structure is made because it has to withhold a lot of tension and compression due to nature and human fault incidents.  For example during the Oklahoma city bombing the Federal Building withstood the blast of a huge bomb and is still standing.  The Building was built with very good compression.

Our group found that to build a good structure that would withhold the amount of compression that we needed that we had to build a structure with thick supported walls.  So we built a box. A 10 by 9in. box that had corrugation within each wall.  Then we put supporting  beams in the middle creating triangles.  If we could have made changes to our project it would have been that we would not have put a bottom on it.  Putting a bottom on it did not allow the air to trap in the box the way it should have.   

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