Final Day of bridge

Today is the day of our final. We have most people outside. A lot of people are in the water. The goal is to finish the bridge, and make it sturdy. They are in the water trying to make it stay up.  Mr. Joslin is eventually going to attempt to walk across it, and hopefully not fall in. Mike Ryan and Hayden have been in the water. Marcel, Dempsey, and Nikita are working on construction/design.

Building a Bridge Day 4

Today is officially the last class that we will be working on the 100ft bridge across the pond. Though we will be working on it on monday today we should accomplish a lot we should be able to get 30ft into the pond by adding trapezoid number 5 and 6. After every day of building we test the bridge to see if it will break, and we also test the sturdiness of the bridge. The main goal is to get this bridge across the pond. We are also writing down last minute supplies for Mr. Joslin to go get at the hard ware store.

There was a bit of a mishap today. we were able to successfully get the fourth trapezoid added on to the bridge. The 5th one was attached but then snapped. I think it was because the wood was split. Students will show up at a review session on saturday at 9:00 am to discuss and potentially finding a way to make this bridge work.

Build A Bridge Progress Report #5 (D Block)

Today was our very last class day to make it, the next time we meet we will be putting the bridge in the water and Mr.Joslin will walk on it. We started to assemble the bridge as well as we finished making the deck. We have not baught anything new but are looking to see hw much 4 cargo straps cost. 

Mr joslin walked acrossed the bridge with no problem. The only thing that we have left is to put it all together. 

Day 3: F block

Today we are doing a few different things. A few people are outside measuring the pond every five feet to get a better sense of what we are working with. Borghi went kayaking to the middle of the pond in order to seek the depth of the pond. Danny, with the help of others, is building 20 trapezoids out of wood. Each one he makes must be bigger than the one he made before it. We are planning to line the trapezoids up, and then put wood over them. They are suppose to make the bridge sturdy. We pretty much devoted the whole class time today to building these 20 trapezoids. There is a lot of sawing and screwing included into today. We were able to get the third and fourth trapezoids into he pond covering about 20 feet leaving us with 16 more to go. The 20 foot bridge was tested and walked on by Ellis. The sturdiness of the bridge was better than before and the class is determined to get this bridge across the floor.









Dori and Marcel

Building A Bridge Progress Report #4 (D Block)

Today we finished making the 10 frames with the wood going acrossed it to walk and started to put the slats together. Mr.Joslin went to the hardware store and got plywood, screws, and some more wood. Kate Levusque also supplied us with 9 more straps which means we only need 2 more.

Today we started to construct the bridge sagment that will be the spam of the bridge. We will have to make 11 of these. The goal is to have this built by Friday. 

Building a Bridge: Progress Report #3 (D block)

Today we were able to build the remaining frames and manipulate the materials we already possessed; so far, we are succeeding in staying within the budget.

We were able to use free materials thanks to donations from Mr. Shackett, Mr. Mundahl and Mr. Joslin himself. This is what we were able to collect. 

Building A Bridge: Day 2: F block

Today is day two of the Building a Bridge project. From last class we have learned that our original design of the pier bridge and the floating bridge together are not going to fully function. So during the start of todays class we altered the design a little for the shallow portion of the bridge. This new design consist of a trapezoid that will act as a support system for the plank that we will put on top. In order to do that We will then build another trapezoid, one that accommodates the depth of the pond. The planks that lay on top of the trapezoids will prevent the trapezoid from swinging back and forth.

The first trapezoid has a base of 3'x10" the two legs are 2'x3" and the top spans 10" (1x4 wood)



We were able to build a prototype for the bridge that was successful the next thing that we have to do is think of a way to make it more sturdy we can make it. using thicker wood and etc.

Building a Bridge: Progress Report #2 (D block)

After some hard work we were able to improve significantly the stability of a single module, by adding two barrels and creating a new frame system.

The results are excellent, and we are now ready to enter the final construction phase, meaning we will collect materials and build the remaining modules.

A new challenge we have encountered is the price: this kind of design led us to an estimated price of nearly $200. Now we will have to look for low cost and/or free materials around campus, and try not to rely on purchasing from websites.

Building a Bridge: Introduction and Progress Report #1 (D block)

Mr. Joslin's Applied Physics D and F Block classes have been challenged to complete a whole new project: building a modular bridge across a 100-feet pond. Our budget is 200$ in total, so we will try to use as many free materials as possible and create the cheapest design, finding and purchasing the least expensive materials. The project's goal is to allow Mr. Joslin to safely walk across the pond, from the ARC to the lawn, whitout getting wet (and we recommend you to be there during the final exam, because there's the chance of an unexpected plunge!).

The project started with group brainstorming: the class was divided into groups of two, with the task to create two concepts each and then compare them with the rest of the class; at the end of the first week, we decided for a barrel-based, floating design. We were able to purchase 20 55-gallon waterproof barrels for 50$, and on Monday created the first prototype of a module: a 5-feet design, composed by two barrels connected by a wooden frame.

The first challenge we encountered was stability: because of the small width of the frame and the difficulty to center it on the barrels, a person walking on it would cause the whole section to tilt and eventually capsize.