Building bridges

A group of students took great pains in preparing pasta last week, but they weren't chefs, home economic students or starving college kids living from month to month.

These were Engineering 101 students trying to make the grade in Professor Peter Pfaelzer's engineering graphics class. The assignment -- to build a sturdy spaghetti bridge.

"We're supposed to be learning how to make a strong durable bridge, but to make it lightweight," said engineering student Eric Chommanard. "In design, you want to make it cheap but effective."

The students, in groups of three, were assigned the task of building light pasta bridges that could hold a significant amount of weight, but Pfaelzer said the broader assignment was just to have a good time.

"The key thing about this kind of contest is to give students the thrill for design," Pfaelzer said. There was a first place prize of $10, second place received $5 and third earned $1.

Pfaelzer said that although they were working with "nonsense materials," the students were learning common problems with some kinds of designs.

For instance, some students' bridges bowed and buckled at the top. Some bridges held a great deal of weight, but were heavy and used too much glue and pasta.

The winning bridge, designed by Richard Delao and Maria Robleto, only weighed 13 ounces and supported about four pounds. Its "performance factor" was twice that of any other bridge.

Delao and Robleto's bridge won in part because they broke the spaghetti in half at the top of the structure to lessen the strain on the design. Delao saw the contest as helpful.

"I think a project like this makes engineering more fun," said Delao. "I think a lot of people would be more interested in engineering if there were more of these projects."

Pfaelzer said he was impressed with the winners.

"I would say there are some excellent engineering prospects in that group," he said.

[ Golden Gater Online November 21, 1995 ]

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