Notecard Challenge

Robert Sitbon
10/17/13



Our columns were 1' x 1/2'


Summery

What we did was we built cylinders from notecards and 4' of tape. How we started was we brainstormed and sketched the placements and thicknesses of the columns. Then Dylan and I did was we had a ruler and measured 1' and drew a line to mark 1' and we made seven of these lines. From these lines we made 7 columns holding them together with tape, but before we put the tape to hold them together I measured if they were at least a 1/2' wide. After we finished building our first set of columns we tested them and during testing we put two 45 lb weights on top of our columns then started stacking books. In the end we lifted about 209 lbs. A few days later we made a new set of colemns for the Atkins A, but we tried to make them more cylindrical this tme. Saddly the columns failed. They most likely failed due to them being slighly too wide or thin and possibly not flat on the tops and bottoms. 

                                 Analysis

In our structure both of our attempts both failed not by the typical overturning, but crushing. In our first attempt when the columns failed only a few actually were crushed while some still were standing and holding there weight. the other attempt for the Atkins A instantly crushed them. The columns became flat which proves that it was crushed and not overturned.
If I had different materials; (1) 5 x 7 notecard, (2) 8.5 x 11 pieces of copy paper, and 8 inches of tape I would wrap the columns made from the notecard with the copy paper to support the columns and wrap that in tape.