Challenge

Build Towers

Black and white image showing collapsed and crumpled communication towers in the desert near a Nevada nuclear test site
A collapsed radio tower subjected to nuclear blast testing in Nevada circa 1955. From the 3rd edition of the book "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons" published by the U.S. Dept. of Defense and the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission in 1977. Digitized and published by Chris Griffith and Eric A. Meyer at The Atomic Archive

Build models of multi-story buildings, support structures or transmission towers.

  • What forces are real-world towers subject to? Why is triangulation important in structural design?
  • What does statical determinacy mean? What are the benefits of statically determinate versus indeterminate structures?
  • Who is Gustav Eiffel? What new approaches did he bring to structural engineering and design?
  • How can you test the structure for stiffness, failure modes, vibration? What is a shake table?
  • Who are Bernd & Hilla Becher? What kinds of structure did they document?
  • What is the history of the tallest man-made structures? What are tall structures used for?

For answers, notes, and supporting materials, enter your license code.

Enter Premium License

Pinned images from our dedicated Pinterest board.