Our team, The Rocks,  were told to build a Structure with ten manila folders that should hold hundreds of pounds.  My first thought was, "Oh please it isn't possible!"   Our teacher, Mrs. Powell, told us the strongest structure held between seven and eight hundred pounds.  I was at awe.  Excited for the days to come, I realized that before we could start  building we had to do research.  While researching this project I found that when weighing  paper you don't individually weigh a sheet, but instead weigh five hundred sheets.  Also, that grades mean types of paper.   In this case the manila folders are made of  heavy stock paper, normally, but sometimes are made of plastic and paper pulp.  The way manufactures make paper strong is by pumping wood chips into the paper.  Plus they you adhesion and cohesion.  The difference between adhesion and cohesion is adhesion means to stick to surfaces of which is applied.  Where as cohesion is just the ability to stick to itself.  Glue has made adhesion and cohesion much easier.  White glue, which most people don't take the time to understand how it works,  is simply made of flour and water  but the stronger glues include  materials  like animal hides and bones.  Plus chemicals made by man. (First created out of petroleum, natural gas, and other raw materials)

          We all had to conduct an interview with either  a construction consultant, contractor, or an engineer.  I interview Greg Helton who is a general contractor for Helton Contracting.  He stated that the strongest shape is a pyramid and it should be supported by foundation.   He believes tension is better than compression and is best to make a building out of concrete or steel.  Greg stated that it is better to support from the outside and the key to creating equal balance is  having equal pressure.  His advice to me was to make a triangular structure and support the middle.

To the right is me vigorously researching.

Steph and me understanding the difference  between tension and compression    

Below is our group collaborating as we begin the beginning of our project 

this is a picture of our group the "Rocks"

Our Design met the high and weight  criteria.  We went a little over the height requirement because if it shrunk we wanted it to still be in the running.  I believe our structure held 270 pounds.  Some benefits to our design was that it didn't collapse,  our support system was great.  The major weakness to our design was that it was very narrow and had a hard time balancing the weight.  If I could do this project again I would do everything the same but make the structure fatter.

Sources: 

Elemers wood glue ingredients

Trivia Collection:  How does glue work?

File Folder

Understanding paper weights