First-Year Student Project – Balsa Wood Bridge
In Civil Engineering 101 (CE 101), students are challenged to design a bridge entirely out of balsa wood (and glue, and nothing else), weighing less than 100 grams. The bridge must be free-standing and support a point load. Bridges are tested by pouring sand into a suspended container at the center of the bridge, increasing the weight until there is an audible cracking sound or visible fractures. For more information on the rules of the contest, visit www.balsabridge.com.
This bridge was designed by a group of first-year students in 2014 and holds the record at NMT for most weight supported. It weighs just over 85 grams and was tested with 400 lbs, showing no signs of damage. It could hold significantly more, but NMT ran out of weights and sand to test it. Visit https://www.nmt.edu/academics/ceeng/ to learn more about the Civil Engineering program at NMT.
The bridge is on loan from Dr. Clinton Richardson of the Civil Engineering department at NMT. The first-year students who constructed the bridge in 2014 are Ashley Perkins, Joshua Neal, Florence Keegan, and Devon Evelo. The bridge’s final weight was 85.8 grams and held 400 lbs with ease, supporting 2,114 times its own weight—more than the world’s strongest animal by weight, the dung beetle, which only supports 1,141 times its body weight.
Learn More:
Civil Engineering department webpage:
https://www.nmt.edu/academics/ceeng/
More information on the bridge contest details:
http://www.balsabridge.com/