Gorton's Crossing Crossed Out

I was out of school again on Friday to compete at the American Society of Civil Engineer's 11th annual Popsicle stick bridge competition. My group and I were running late, but we all looked very professional in our dress clothes and matching jamba juice cups. It turned out that we were doing ok on time, though, because the day got started over a half hour late.The Pacifica bridges. Ours is "Gorton's Crossing," in honor of the mural on the side of Pacifica's B Building, on the left. Here's some of our competition:

Pontifexxxxxx...
They used CAD.

This team had the funniest presentation... "...And here's something, I just came up with it right now. Booker T. Washington said, he said somethin' like, 'Everything that's perfect has got its imperfections.' So even imperfect things are perfect..."

What was this bridge thing again? My team and I (Katie, Mike Dang, and Won), have been working on a Posicle stick bridge for the past 2 1/2 months (mostly in the past 2 1/2 weeks, though). We had to build a bridge entirely out of Popsicle sticks and glue that spanned 24", was at least 4" wide and no more than 4" tall, and weighed under 1 lbs. To that we had to write up a technical report and put together a visual display and a 5-minute presentation.

Won looking through Gorton's Crossing

We were something of the guinea pig year. This is the first time Pacifica has entered this competition, so going into it we knew that we wouldn't do too well. If anyone does it next year, they will have more experience (we're trying to convince our junior team to do it again next year). Pacifica happened to be one of the only public schools there, and also one of the only schools that didn't use classtime to complete the bridge.

Mike Dang looking at all the displays.

Enough with the excuses. Yes, we got creamed. Our bridge, which weighed less than 10 ounces, one of the lightest in the competition, held 370 pounds. The strongest bridge held 1160 pounds. We were shocked when we got to the competition site to discover that our bridge was one of the only truss bridges. All the other bridges looked like platforms, with unsupported roadways except at the loading point in the center. It was within the rules, but I don't think I would want to drive on their bridges. Most roads started twisting long before they took 350 pounds.

Setting our bridge in place to be tested.

Ready...

And...

Demolished.

Scores at the end. We're "Pacifica Katie"

The junior team did very well at the impromptu design. Each team was given a sheet of paper and 5 paper clips to build a bridge with, and then it was loaded with pennies. The junior team managed to load the max limit of 200 pennies! Our team only managed to load 73 before it collapsed.

Katie loading pennies.

Overall it was a great experience. For once I wish I wasn't a senior, because this is the type of competition that you do better in after years of experience. If I could, I would do this again, just to see if I could do better. My other teammates are glad it's over, and wouldn't consider doing this again. I don't believe that any of us are planning to go into civil engineering after this (besides the fact that none of us want to be stuck designing parking lots for the rest of our lives!). We'll see, though.