Tower of Power

The Tower of POWER

John Holton

Mr. Peterson

Honors Physics

5 April, 2008

Introduction: The object of this project was to build a tower made of only toothpicks and glue, and to have it be able to hold up a large amount of mass. We were to use our knowledge of the different Newton forces, Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, etc. Internet sources could be used to look up the strongest structures and look at how they were constructed: the shapes used and how they were assembled. We are supposed to learn how forces can be dispersed or spread out to reduce pressure and carry more weight.

Body: The structure I built is two small pyramids with the tops cut off and connected to look like a bow tie. I made it the minimum height cause the higher it is and as more weight is added the potential energy increases. Potential Energy is PE= g x m x h, where g is gravity, m is mass, and h is height. If the structure was taller the gravitational pull would increase greatly, because the height would me higher and the mass would continue to increase as water is added to the bucket.

The reason I made it into a bow-tie like formation was so that it covered a wider area. If the forces have a larger platform or area to rest the more the force of gravity is dispersed. The pressure of the weight per unit of area decreases with a larger area. And the reason its triangle shaped is because triangles are suppose to be the strongest shape to use in building structures meant to carry a mass amount of weight. The force of the object on the structure will increase as the mass increases.

http://homepage2.nifty.com/SUBAL/BCmaking4E.htm

http://www.rogersconnection.com/triangles/