Best Balancing Beam

Overview

Objectives/Goals I am trying to find out what shape has the least deflection using three pieces of lumber each 12 ft. long. Methods/Materials The materials are 3 pieces of lumber each 12 ft. long, measuring tape, Two concrete blocks, and screws. METHOD 1. First, I screw the lumber together to make a shape. 2.I will measure what are the inches before my dad stands on the beam. This number will stand for "A". 3. Then, my dad would get on the beam. 4. I will measure how much it deflects ten times on each shape. That number will stand for "B". 5. I will do the same with the other shapes. 6. I will take the average for "B" and minus it from "A". 7. That number will be the deflection for the shape. 8. The most stable and rigid balancing beam will be the one with the least deflection. Results I found out that the I shape deflected the less; only 1/16 of and inch. THe worst shape were the three flat pieces. It deflected 4 6/16 of an inch. Conclusions/Discussion Screw helps the beam to deflect less because it makes the beam work as a single component. The point is, it is not what the material is but how i use it makes the difference.

Competition history

• CSEF 2005 Structural Capability & Strength of Materials (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1812

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Materials Science and Engineering projects
• CSEF Materials Science and Engineering projects
• Every CSEF 2005 project