Building bridges to promote engineering
Wyatt Lee spent his extended March break building bridges.
But the bridges built by the 12-year-old student at Port Colborne’s St. John Bosco Elementary School weren’t intended to bring together his locked out teachers and Niagara Catholic District School Board.
As far as Wyatt was concerned, the extra week off was “awesome!”
Nevertheless, the bridge he built out of Popsicle sticks was probably strong enough to bear the weight of several teachers as well as board trustees.
Wyatt’s bridge was entered into a competition at the St. Catharines YMCA, Saturday, organized by the Niagara chapter of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.
For the second year, the organization recognized National Engineering Month with a Bridge Buster competition, challenging children from throughout the region to design and build bridges large enough for a Hot Wheels car, and bring them in to be tested using the organization’s Bridge Buster device.
The builders of the strongest bridges in each of five age categories received $50 prizes.
Wyatt’s bridge left his competition in the dust, said Stan Mathew, from PEO Niagara chapter’s education committee.
Although most of the bridges the children created could support between 20 and 90 kg, it took more than 156 kg of pressure before Wyatt’s bridge failed. It was enough pressure to noticeably bend two lengths of ¾-inch plywood that was laminated together and used for testing the Bridge Buster device.
“Could you imagine that Popsicle sticks actually held that much weight?” Mathew said.
He said Wyatt created I-beams out of the sticks and used them to support his bridge, adding significantly to the strength of the structure.
Participants were limited to 100 sticks, had to use white school glue such as Elmer’s, and they had to have their bridges finished prior to the competition. Mathew said all 13 participants met those requirements.
“We didn’t have a cost issue,” Mathew quipped — a reference to the controversial Burgoyne Bridge replacement project.
The Bridge Buster competition was one of two events the organization ran this year, designed to promote engineering during National Engineering Month.
“Ideally, the purpose of this is to present engineering to the general community,” Mathew said.
Wyatt is still thinking about how he will spend his $50 winnings, although he said it’s probably enough money to buy 1,000 Popsicle sticks.