Schools
That's Using Your 'Noodle:' Eastern Tech Takes Third in Engineering Competition
Students from across the state participated in the Johns Hopkins University's Engineering Innovations program which had them test the strength of bridges built only from half a pound of spaghetti noodles and glue.
Students in the Johns Hopkins University Engineering Innovation program put their noodles to the test at Eastern Technical High School Friday, July 29, but not in the way one might think.
Each group of students in the four-week program, which covered all manner of things engineering, used only half a pound of dry spaghetti noodles and glue to create a bridge "to support as much weight as possible without collapsing. The competition [held Friday] to test the bridges’ strength represents the culminating activity of the program," according to a news release.
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"Eastern Tech volunteered to host this year," said Michael Karweit, academic director of the JHU program. "I've been doing this a number of years, and it never ceases to amaze me that they take a half a pound of spaghetti and really put a substantial load on it."
Karweit explained there were three other sites breaking bridges at the same time as the Eastern Tech site. Each site hosted several sections of the Engineering Innovations program, with Eastern Tech hosting its own section, a section from Elkridge High School and a section from University of Baltimore. Each section contained 20 students split into five to seven teams.
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An audience of parents, teachers, and fellow competitors sat on the edges of their seats Friday as they watched some 20 bridges being loaded with more and more weight to test their strength. Some broke nearly immediately, while other bridges handled anywhere from 30 to more than 80 pounds.
James Irwin, a rising senior at Eastern Tech, participated in the program last year as well.Irwin said his team concentrated on building a bridge with an arch.
"There's no bending in an arch," he said. "It has properties like a circle. It turns into a compression instead of bending. When it's going to break, its ends will come apart. An arch will implode on itself."
Irwin and his team, ET-4, designed and built a bridge that was able to hold 41.7 pounds when tested.
Friday's winners were from the University of Baltimore section, team UB-1. Its bridge held 88.6 pounds, and the team earned a total of 113.3 points for its bridge based on the weight it could hold, among other criteria. Each member of the team received a $50 gift card to Best Buy.
"We took more time than most other groups, designing and redesigning our bridge," said UB-1 team member Melda Gurakar, who will be a junior at Bryn Mawr School this year.
Gurakar said the team made changes right up to the last minute.
Fellow team members Jamie Allen and David Copeland, rising seniors at Bethesda-Chevy Chase and New Town High School, respectively said the team relied on the arch as well.
"The arch was really important," Allen said. "It compresses at the top and spreads out the weight more evenly."
In addition to learning about multiple aspects of engineering, Katie Liu, also a Bryn Mawr junior, said workers from Northrop Grumman, RK&K, and Bentley visited the program to share their jobs with students.
The second-place winning team from Elkridge created a bridge that held 85.7 pounds. The team received $25 gift cards to iTunes.
The third place winning team from Eastern Tech received $15 gift cards to Coldstone Creamery. Its bridge held 68.2 pounds.