Structural Engineering
This shape is commonly used in bridges and towers because it keeps structures from bending easily.
What is a triangle?
A bridge must support this downward force from objects placed on it.
What is weight or load?
Crash barriers are designed to do this to the energy of a moving vehicle.
What is absorb energy?
Catapults launch objects by storing energy in stretched or bent materials.
What is elastic potential energy?
The first step engineers usually take before building something.
What is planning or designing?
Making the base of a tower wider increases this property, helping prevent it from tipping.
What is stability?
This type of force pulls and stretches materials in a bridge.
What is tension?
When a car crashes, its motion energy must go somewhere. This type of energy is called ______ energy.
What is kinetic energy?
After launch, this force pulls the projectile back toward the ground.
What is gravity?
A small test version of a design built to try out ideas.
What is a prototype?
This point represents where the weight of an object is balanced.
What is the center of mass?
This type of force pushes materials together or squeezes them.
What is compression?
A crash barrier made of soft materials may reduce injuries because it does this to the impact.
What is slow down the stop / absorb the force over time?
The curved path that a launched projectile follows through the air is called this.
What is trajectory?
When engineers balance competing goals like cost, strength, and height, they are making a ______.
What is a trade-off?
If engineers want a tall tower to survive an earthquake, they often lower this by putting heavier materials near the bottom.
What is the center of mass?
If the bottom beam of a bridge is under tension and the top beam is under compression, why is this arrangement helpful for strength?
Because the bridge spreads forces through different parts of the structure, preventing one piece from taking all the load.
Why might engineers design barriers that bend or crumple instead of staying rigid?
Because flexing absorbs energy and reduces the force on the object crashing into it.
Increasing the launch angle too much can reduce distance because the projectile spends too much time doing this.
What is moving upward instead of forward?
Testing and improving a design multiple times is called this process.
What is iteration?
Why might a triangular truss design be stronger than a square frame made of the same materials?
Because triangles cannot easily change shape, while squares can deform without additional bracing.
A bridge made from straight beams begins to bend under heavy load, but a triangular truss bridge with the same materials holds much more weight. Why?
Because triangles distribute forces through multiple members and prevent bending, making the structure stronger.
If two barriers stop the same car, but one stops it instantly while the other stops it over a longer distance, which produces less force on the car and why?
The barrier that stops it over a longer distance, because spreading the change in motion over more time reduces the force of impact.
Ignoring air resistance, what launch angle usually gives the maximum horizontal distance for a projectile?
What is 45 degrees?
Two teams build bridges. One holds the most weight but uses double the materials allowed. The other holds slightly less weight but follows all constraints. Which design is better engineering and why?
The second design, because it meets the constraints while still performing well, which is a key part of engineering.