Unit 2:  Engineering & Forces

PSP1-HS-3. Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.

 

PSP1-HS-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

PSP1-HS-6. Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.

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Question:  How can we design, construct, and engineer a structure that can redirect forces?

 

• Bridge-building Presentation

• Forces on structures notes

• 40 Straws

• Watch Tacoma Narrows Bridge Video

• Watch this Arch video

• Visit these sites after building an arch bridge with the blocks:

  • pictures of arches

  • keystone concept

  • arch bridges

• Look at cool bridges from around the world using google images.

  • Create a slideshow of 10 different bridges. Label type and and location.

  • Types of Bridges Handout

• Watch the Cantilever video

• Make a sketch of planned bridge after looking at some googled toothpick bridges.

• Forces and Shapes

• • redistributing forces diagram

• Calculating Forces

• Bridge Wrap-up

 

• Egg Drop Presentation

• Terminal Velocity Handout

• Egg Drop Google Search

• Egg Drop Wrap Up

 

 

• Creative Writing prompt:  "I walked across the bridge and . . ."

• Movie Time:  The bridge over the River Kwai

  • Answer this question in a summary paper:  "Why were the prisoners so happy to have built the bridge for the Japanese?"

  • What is the message that the movie is trying to convey?

 

 

Vocabulary:

1. Keystone

2. voussoirs

3. footers

4. abutments

5. forces

6. compression

7. tension

8. torsion

9. shearing

10. bending

11. footings

12. pilings

13. parapet

14. span

15. beam

16. truss

17. cantilever

18. Momentum

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