Spaghetti Bridge

[XJ Dreamin']

Is there a weight limit, size limit, or limit to the amount or type of noodle used?

Overlapping joints (kinda like wood floors or siding creates stronger spans. You could dip the bridge in epoxy or gorilla glue.




That movie is full of creative license...

Also known as round-eye propaganda

 

[XJ Dreamin']

and deceit, and suspense, and action, and plot twists, and... :thumbup:

Damn you! Beat me to it :compwork:

 

[XJ Dreamin']

Star Wars III. Now there was a movie

Finally got around to almost enough light sabre work.

 

[banderso]

Is there a weight limit, size limit, or limit to the amount or type of noodle used?

Weight limit: 150 grams
Size limit: must span a 30 cm gap and can only extend 10 cm below the gap
Type of noodle used: only spaghetti noodles are allowed. In fact we wanted to make our own spaghetti like was suggested or use hollow tube pasta, but neither are allowed because it must say spaghetti on the box.

Do you really think coating the entire bridge in epoxy or gorilla glue would improve the strength to weight ratio?

 

[BIGSLVRXJ]

Weight limit: 150 grams
Size limit: must span a 30 cm gap and can only extend 10 cm below the gap
Type of noodle used: only spaghetti noodles are allowed. In fact we wanted to make our own spaghetti like was suggested or use hollow tube pasta, but neither are allowed because it must say spaghetti on the box.

Do you really think coating the entire bridge in epoxy or gorilla glue would improve the strength to weight ratio?

See the rules are what suck. We had to do toothpick bridges for our final in Physics the last two years. You have to use straight out of the box Diamond toothpicks and white elmers glue. The ones that always hold the most weight are the arch designs because it distributes the weight down to the supports. If it's anything like our contest, the dowel will be placed across the middle of the bridge with a string going down to a bucket with weight in it. An arch is definitely the best design, see if you can incorporate that somehow. Good luck!

 

[XJ Dreamin']

Weight limit: 150 grams

Well dayam! That kills my idea. How many noodles is that? It's 1/3 of a pound, so that's a pretty good number of noodles. I wonder if you'd be better off with thin or standard noodles? Thinner is more flexible, but less carrying capacity/noodle. Depends if you need to bend them to form trusses.

Size limit: must span a 30 cm gap and can only extend 10 cm below the gap
Type of noodle used: only spaghetti noodles are allowed. In fact we wanted to make our own spaghetti like was suggested or use hollow tube pasta, but neither are allowed because it must say spaghetti on the box.

Do you really think coating the entire bridge in epoxy or gorilla glue would improve the strength to weight ratio?

We need to know the rules. Here are 2 examples: both different from yours

http://www.jhu.edu/~virtlab/spaghetti-bridge/ this one specifies glue, epoxy, or resin
http://civil.camosun.bc.ca/spaghetti_bridge/ this one specifies hot glue.

 

[Fergie]

Will there be any type of stops at the end of the bride to keep the ends from splaying out?

If so, go for a truncated A frame type bridge, and as others have said, dip the spaghetti, or finished bridge in some sort of epoxy.

I've had designs like this hold 30 gallon trash cans full of water.

 

[banderso]

Okay, so as RenixPower guessed, a dowell will be placed in the center of the bridge and weight will somehow be suspended from that. As for glue, anything goes. We took the average mass of some different brands of spaghetti last night and came up with 150 grams being about 120 pieces of spaghetti. I am not sure if I am remebering that number right. But anyway that is only the maximum, we can use less and if the deisgn is good we can earn points by having the most efficient (strength/mass) design. There will be no stops to keep the bridge from splaying out. Will will be able to use the sides of the gap for a simillar purpose though. Think of the gap looking something like ] [ where the bridge goes over the top of the brackets.

 

[Jess]

what form does the spagetti have to be in? Are there rules that deal with that? Could you cook it and then freeze it to increase the strength? How bout ground it and make a dense paste and mold it?

I think outside the box!

 

[89Daytona]

I wonder if cooking the spaghetti in water that has a lot of starch in it would make it stronger. After cooking form it into arch shapes and freeze/dry/dehydrate.