fairfolio
Saved Projects

Shake, Rattle, and Fold

CSEF · 2009 Applied Mechanics & Structures Honorable_mention Award

Cameron S. Geiger · Sitting Bull Middle School, Apple Valley, San Bernardino County

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective is to determine what type of structure will hold the most weight during the static and seismic experiments. My hypothesis is that structure C, with the two diagonal cross beams, will hold the most weight Methods/Materials Five structure types with identical size and varying supports were constructed. I built an earthquake table and tested the various structures to discover the maximum weight that each structure could hold during the static and seismic experiments. I tested each structure 8 times. Results Structure C (the structure with two cross beams) held the most weight in both the static and the seismic tests. Structure D (the structure with one cross beam) almost held as much weight as structure C. All of the structures held more weight during the static test than they did during the seismic test. Conclusions/Discussion The results of my experiment supported my hypothesis. Structure C did hold the most weight. I learned that forming triangles in structures is very important because triangles are extremely strong shapes and can greatly improve the strength of the structure.

Summary statement

My project determines what type of structure can hold the most weight during static and seismic experiments.

Help received

My dad helped me build the earthquake table by using the tools that were too dangerous for me to use. My mom recorded data while I tested the structures. My mom edited my research report, and my sister helped me with the Bibliography.

Awards (1)

  • Honorable Mention

Competition history

  • CSEF 2009 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry J0208

Resources

Related projects

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

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google