PHILIPSBURG P-O eighth graders determined the compression strength of balsa wood by searching online for the answer. But they didn’t just learn the fact — they put their knowledge to the test first-hand by building and smashing their own wooden towers.
With the help of fifth-year Penn State mechanical engineering student Mike Szedlmayer, students began their project by learning the science behind stress and compression strength during Mr. Wood’s physical technology classes. Students used math and science skills to calculate the total force each of their towers could withstand.
Then the smashing began!
Each pair of students applied weights to their wooden towers. After the structures crumbled, students went back and took another look at their original predictions — did it match up with what they thought was the original strength of balsa wood? If not, what were the variables that could have caused different compression strength?
Brendan Roach and Gio Bickle were among the first in their class to put their structures to the test. Even though their tower withstood a whopping 270 pounds, the students said they still expected it to hold more.
“We should have made the hole bigger,” Bickle said, referring to the opening in the center of the tower created when the three trusses were glued together. That item was one of the variables that could have made a difference.
All eighth grade physical technology classes participated in the project, which is supported through the Carbon Earth program, a grant partnership between Penn State and Philipsburg-Osceola that is helping P-O build more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) projects into the curriculum.