My son has to build a balsa wood tower for geology class so they can test it on the earthquake table. I had built bridges and have some ideas and suggestions for his tower but I thought I’d ask the brains here for help.
I think he might be able to make a wave damper that would hang at the bottom to help with the lateral forces. Is that feasible? Nothing in the rules says it isn’t allowed.
Are there CAD programs (preferably freeware) that would let us simulate his tower design?
I’ve seen photos online of some towers but have never seen examples of plans we can use as a starting point. Any ideas?
I’m not going to build it for him and there is no way I would let him cheat by copying someone else’s plan. I’m just trying to help him do the best he can. Thanks for your suggestions.
The best way to help him is by letting him do it himself. But you already knew that, right?
I know that. He is looking for additional resources that could help him and his teacher said he could look for stuff online. He is doing part of the research and he asked me if I could think of anything since I had done the bridge building project when I was his age about a billion years ago, it seems. I’m not going to build it, I just want to point him to anything that he can look at for ideas.
What used to be the “Bridge Building” event in the Science Olympiad is now “Tower Building.”
This page is their Tower Building event resource page. Note that a lot of the resources are for bridge building - but the same sort of things apply.
Also note that in SO, the event is not so much for earthquakes but for stress. For example, the bridges I built had to be ultra light and the competition revolved around putting a block on the bridge which was connected to a hanging bucket into which sand would be poured until the structure broke. Your score was calculated by how much it weighed vs how much it held. This is how the tower event works too.
But, it’s a starting point. Good luck!
As for a model of his design, check out Sketchup. It’s quick and easy to learn, and makes great looking 3d models.
Mines Mystique