What is the best design for a balsa wood tower?
The best balsa wood tower designs use basic structural shapes, such as triangles, whose firmness allows them to support weight in a secure fashion. Squares and other polygons can also be used in tower designs, but require support if they are to bear weight without twisting and giving way.
How do you make the strongest balsa wood tower?
Choose glue that’s low in weight, quick drying and strong. A good choice for balsa towers is yellow wood glue that you’ve thinned slightly with water. The formula is 70% glue to 30% water. Mixing the glue will lower the weight of the glue and help it to seep into the wood’s surface, strengthening the joint.
What makes a tower stable?
Two rectangular blocks stacked on top of each other horizontally will be much more stable than if you stack the same two blocks end to end vertically. The tower’s stability depends on the ratio of its width to its height.
What makes a good tower?
Towers should have different qualities that determine how well they perform in specific positions. Some can shine in choke points, others could be long-range and fire over mountains, and others being support towers.
What makes a balsa wood bridge strong?
Restricting the size and shape of structural elements of the bridge (the individual pieces of balsa wood) Restricting the amount of glue that can be used during the construction. Limiting the types of glue that can be used for connecting pieces of balsa wood. Requiring the minimum or maximum height of the roadway.
How do you stiffen balsa wood?
Take some Duco, Ambroid, or Testor’s wood glue and dilute it with acetone. A 50-50 mix is good. Lightly apply a coat of this to the wood, it will stiffen the wood without adding a lot of weight. I would NOT use CA as it makes balsa brittle and is very heavy.
Why do students make balsa wood towers?
Students act as if they are civil engineers, and make balsa wood towers to meet a design requirement. They use the engineering design process to brainstorm, design, test and redesign their model towers. After this activity, students should be able to:
How do I choose the right balsa wood for my Tower?
Examine each piece of wood closely before choosing it for your tower. A strong piece of balsa wood to use comes from a dense stick. Check the denseness of your stick by doing a squeeze test. Lightly squeeze the stick between your fingers; the more resistant it is to crushing when squeezed, the more density to your balsa stick.
What kind of glue do you use for a balsa tower?
An important but often overlooked part of a balsa wood tower is the glue used to hold the pieces together. Choose glue that’s low in weight, quick drying and strong. A good choice for balsa towers is yellow wood glue that you’ve thinned slightly with water. The formula is 70% glue to 30% water.
Which tower design has the highest strength to weight ratio?
The winning team design is the tower with the highest strength-to-weight ratio. This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards ( NGSS ). Civil engineers design and build structures all around us.