Engineering students will put their pasta structures to the test on Sunday, Nov. 7, during the Whiting School's 11th annual Spaghetti Bridge Contest. Working in groups of two or three, student teams are expected to enter about 20 bridges in the competition, which will be held in the Glass Pavilion at Levering Hall on the Homewood campus.

Under the rules of the contest, the bridges can only be made of spaghetti and glue (epoxy or resin). Each free-standing bridge must span two level surfaces that are one meter apart. Each bridge must include a decking of spaghetti wide enough to allow a "car," represented by a small block of wood, to pass over it.

During the judging, increments of weight are gradually added to a platform suspended from the middle of each bridge until the structure snaps. Its score is the greatest amount of weight the bridge carried before the collapse. To date, the best student bridge has held 64 kilograms (140 lbs.). The winning team receives a $100 prize.

The event is free, and spectators are welcome. Bridges will go on display at 1:30 p.m. The weight competition begins at 3 p.m.

The spaghetti bridge contest is one of the most challenging assignments in an introductory course called What is Engineering? Students typically learn important concepts involving the design, construction and testing of a structure.

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