Design Cycle Notecard Challenge

Mike Desmond

Mr. Adkins performing the "Adkins A"                 How the structures collapsed.

For this challenge we had to design a structure to hold as much weight as possible.  The design needed to be out of a notecard, and 4 inches of tape.  It had to hold the weight at least an inch above the ground.  Most people rolled the paper tightly and used it as columns to support either the books, the weights, or Mr. Adkins.

On our first attempt we took the whole notecard and rolled it horizontally to make one column to support the weight.  This failed horribly and did not support much weight.  When we observed other people attempting this project, we found out that it was more helpful to use multiple skinny columns rather than fewer wider columns.  These were more sturdy and stable and resisted crushing better.  Another thing we experimented was the placement of the columns.  We started with placing them all in the middle, to placing them at the extents of the weights.  With all of this, we were able to design a structure that got us to hold over 200 lbs.

A design that failed