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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University October 31, 2005 | Vol. 35 No. 9
 
Engineering Students Test Building Skills With Spaghetti and Glue

By Phil Sneiderman
Homewood

How much weight can a structure made of noodles withstand before it snaps?

Freshman engineering students and interested observers will soon find out. Using only pasta and glue, the students will test their design and construction skills on Sunday, Nov. 6, in the Whiting School's 12th annual Spaghetti Bridge Contest.

Fourteen teams, each consisting of two or three students, are expected to enter bridges in this year's competition, which will be held in the Glass Pavilion at Levering Hall on the Homewood campus.

The bridges can be made only of spaghetti and glue (epoxy or resin). Each free-standing structure must span two level surfaces that are one meter apart and 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.

Students whose bridges can hold at least 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds) are excused from the final exam. The winning team receives a $100 prize. To date, the best student bridge has held 64 kilograms (140 pounds).

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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