Vocabulary
These alliterative words refer to both how a structure looks and what its purpose is.
What is form and function?
It's the shape we use to represent vectors.
What is an arrow?
2 words, both start with L, refers to the weight of the objects the structure supports.
What is a live load?
Of live loads, dead loads, or dynamic loads, it is the one defined as the weight of the structure itself.
What is a dead load?
This 'm' word means how strong a force is.
What is magnitude?
This word is used to describe the triangular shape you see on many bridges.
It is one of the three ways you an increase the stability of a structure.
What is adding reinforcements, widening the base, or lowering the centre of gravity?
7 letters, starts with T, the "pulling" force on a structure.
What is tension?
It is the unit that weight is measured in.
What is Newtons?
This imaginary point is the middle of all of a structure's mass. When it's low to the ground, the structure is more stable.
What is centre of gravity?
They are the 4 basic forms that structures take.
What are solid, frame, shell, and combination?
This method of strengthening structures can be demonstrated by putting many folds in paper so that it can support books on top.
What is corrugation?
6 letters, starts with W, refers to the amount of Newtons that gravity must exert to keep an object on the ground.
What is weight?
Of the 4 causes of structural failure, it is the one that would happen earliest in the construction process.
What is bad design?
This 'C' word is a force that is similar to a crushing motion.
What is compression?
This type of load would be something like waves crashing into a bridge during a storm.
What is a dynamic load?
This internal force occurs when parts of an object are pushed or pulled in opposite directions.
What is shear?
What are extraordinary loads?
They are the 4 ways we give structures strength discussed in class.
What are beams, trusses, arches, and domes?
This word refers to the arrows that represent forces; they have both a size and a direction.
What are vectors?
It is the type of structural failure demonstrated by the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
What is foundation failure?
This internal force is defined as one part of an object turning one way, and the other part turning the other way or remaining in one spot.
What is torsion?
2 words, starting with P and L, defined as the imaginary line dropping straight down from the centre of gravity.
What is the plumb line?
This method of strengthening a structure is defined as running metal cable through it (usually in cement).
What is rebar?