Some bending, some crackling and then an explosion of wooden stir sticks.
This was the fate of all of the miniature bridges made by Whitehorse students to be tested at the Yukon Bonanza on Saturday, April 27, but some strained under the weight of hundreds of pounds before breaking.
Students from Grades 3 to 12 constructed bridges out of the wooden stir sticks that might be found on a coffee shop counter with glue and dental floss used to connect them. The bridges spanned a 50-centimetre gap with weight suspended below from the centre of their spans. At the April 27 bonanza, Engineering Yukon Representatives loaded up buckets suspended from the bridges with iron weights and concrete core samples before making fine adjustments with gravel to ensure the bridge’s maximum capacity was found.
Judging the bridges wasn’t all about how much weight they could hold: Top scores were given to bridges that could bear the heaviest load relative to their own weight.
In the Grade 3-5 division, the top-scoring bridge was constructed by team “A+C.” It bore 16.8 kilograms at a weight of 248 grams. Runners up were team “EKA,” with a 30.8 kg load under a 379 g bridge, and “Kracken Bridge,” which held 2.5 kg while weighing 185 g.
The top Grade 6-7 team was “The Mattie-Penny Bridge,” which took a 41.7 kg load with a bridge weight of 248 g. The runners up were “B.A.K.A. Bridge,” bearing 6.3 kg with a 106 g weight, and “Wormy Señors,” bearing 25.1 kg and weighing 257 g.
Team “Bridging the World” took home first-prize honours in the Grade 8-12 division, successfully hanging 71.9 kg under their 187 g bridge. The winners were followed by “Academic Victims,” 67.9 kg load with 188 g weight, and “Bridge 1234” bearing 52.9 kg for a weight 166 g.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com