Science Experiment:
Bridge Building Contest Photographs

This academic scholar must have remembered studying about bridge building in school. The first thing he did after being told that he would be building a bridge was to find a science textbook he had used in a previous grade and start reading it.

This group did not stop piling books on top until they had a few columns reach the ceiling. They then tried to claim the false ceiling tiles as their crossbeam. The lone judge disqualified the use of ceiling tiles as part of their bridge. The members of the group then begrudgingly lowered the tops of their columns a bit and began experimenting with building a connecting arch using textbooks. After a few minor accidents caused some books to come raining down on them the group decided to lower the columns some more. They eventually decided to limit their bridge to the height of their necks for safety reasons.

Some of our young ladies working hard at building a bridge.

What will happen if I put this book here?

And less than a meter away the gentlemen are building their bridge.

It is time to sit back, rest and admire the fine work we have done so far.

The Genius

Taking a few books and working alone this scientist solved all of the major problems and built this bridge. Notice how symmetrical, stable and sturdy the bridge is. It was the first bridge completed in our Bridge Building Contest. This bridge had the third largest archway under the bridge and therefore took third prize in our competition. But probably far more important, the Genius proved a bridge could be built out of books. His bridge became the model that many other students tried to emulate when building their bridges.

The Perfect Scholar

Here is the type of Perfect Scholar that every scientist would like to work with.

1. He was resourceful, starting the activity by wandering around the room seeking all of the knowledge and advice he could gather about bridge building.
2. He was observant, always looking around the laboratory watching how successful the other students were. He was the first to notice the achievements of the Genius. The Perfect Scholar then moved his own pile of books right in close beside the Genius so he could study the Genius' bridge building techniques.
3. He was energetic, gathering all of the textbooks he could. When other students were ready to give up he would be over there politely asking if he could have their pile of textbooks to add to his own collection.
4. He was intelligent, building on the knowledge he had learned from the Genius and other students. He experimented and made many new discoveries of better bridge building techniques on his own.
5. He was successful, building the largest bridge of any student working alone and winning second place overall in the Bridge Building Challenge.

The Procrastinators

After having originally participated in the pile the books in stacks up to the ceiling frenzy, this group sat on the sidelines watching and thinking for a long time. Maybe it was the experience of having a few books come raining down on them when accidents had occurred up above that had them spooked. Or maybe they were deep in thought solving the engineering and architecture problems associated with building a bridge out of school textbooks.

The Last Minute

It was the end of the class period and the other students are starting to clean up after having made their bridges, but the Procrastinators group still have not made a bridge. They have been too busy thinking rather than doing. It is time for RubberMan to snap into action. Working faster than any comic book super hero he builds a bridge.

Here is RubberMan admiring the bridge he just finished building. Notice his rubbery legs are still straightening out after his high speed motion. His bridge won fourth place in the Bridge Building Challenge. It is a unique design apparently inspired by people who try to build houses using playing cards.

Well this bridge is the biggest so far but this group is not finished yet. Would you dare to crawl through that open archway under the bridge?

First Place Winners

Well here it is. The largest bridge in our Bridge Building Challenge. These two proud scholars assumed many leadership roles including being engineers, architects and construction foremen. They lead and supervised many students during the various construction phases of building this bridge. As safety inspectors they crawled under the bridge to prove that it was safe.

The End

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