Bridge Building has always been a firm favourite with Cannons Creek pupils over the years. On Friday 11 March, in front of the entire School, Mr van Haght (High School Principal) stress-tested the model bridges (using the winch – ‘le guillotine’) which the Grade 7s spent three weeks building. The groups held their breaths while more weight was added, until the final ‘crack’ of wood could be heard. The winning team was “Team Bean”, whose bridge supported a remarkable 42,7kg, effectively meaning that each gram of balsa wood supported more than 1400 times its mass. Well done to all the Grade 7s and especially to the members of Team Bean. The record stands at a bridge being able to hold 133kg.The scenario set for the Grade 7s was that the recent heavy rains had washed away the bridge over the canal in Nightingale Way. After being exposed to the basics of structures and technical drawings, they were tasked with building a 1:100 model of the bridge to replace the broken one. Each team was given 30g (the same weight as a small packet of crisps) of balsa wood to span a 38cm gap. To read more about our Academics, click here.
Seen here are ‘Team Bean’ with their bridge after it was stress-tested.
