A Fun Physics Showdown (Part 1)

Over the past 12 weeks, our kids have been studying physics during the 30 minute hands-on-science portion of our homeschool co-op which meets once a week.  Physics has always been one of my favorite subjects, but since I work with the 2-3 year old preschoolers (who are not quite ready for such heady topics), I never got the opportunity to watch or assist our children with their in-class science projects.

I finally remembered to bring my camera with me to co-op this past week, and since I brought our preschoolers out to watch the older kids compete in a little physics showdown, I finally got to take a few photos of science class.  The Foundations portion of our co-op group covers K4-6th grade, and each class contributed one or more projects into the competition.  Our son is the youngest in his Abecedarian I class, which is comprised mostly of 5 year old kids.


Our daughter is in the Apprentice II class with 7-8 year old girls.


Bridges
During weeks 20-21 for this past cycle, the kids were divided into small groups, and each group received some clay, rubber bands, straws, and popsicle sticks.  They learned about tension and compression and did tests to determine which shapes are sturdier, pyramids or cubes.  They examined how forces work for beam, truss, suspension, and arch bridges.  Then each group went to work designing and constructing a bridge.

This past week, the bridges were tested to determine which one could hold the most weight.  The first test involved placing a jar filled with almost $100 worth of coins onto the bridge.

$99.44

I think this bridge was the prettiest,

...but it wasn't the strongest!

Check out those facial expressions!

Our son's group's bridge collapsed, too!

Our daughter's group's bridge stood strong!

The next test was to apply localized force at the center of the bridge.

Our daughter's team's bridge passed the test!

The final test involved one of my 3-year old students.  She put the full weight of her body on each of the 2 bridges that were still vying for first place.

Only one bridge could support her weight!

Our daughter's team (3 girls total) won first place!

Our daughter (far right) and her Apprentice II class

However, as a former engineer, I do have issues with their design.  They didn't follow any of the standard bridge designs, but rather created their own.  There is no way a large boat could navigate through that labyrinth of support beams, but I suppose juvenile fish may enjoy trying to swim through it. It would certainly be a costly bridge to construct and may have some ecological issues, but since the kids were not given any of those extra constraints, they won fair and square.

Strongest bridge!