The Last Straw

Your Mission:
Build a structure using up to 30 straws and 15 paper clips provided by the instructor.

Your Structure Must:
Support a mass (minimum of 100 grams) at least 10.0 cm above the ground with open space for an apple on the surface directly beneath the supported mass. The apple will be assumed to be a cube 8.0 cm on a side.

Scoring:
Your score for your structure will be determined by the product of the maximum mass supported in grams and the height of the mass support point attained in centimeters, squared, divided by your tower's mass.

Examples:
 For instance, with a 100g structure supporting 200g attached 20cm above the ground, your score would be 800 pts. With a 100g structure supporting 400g at 10cm, your score would be 400 points.

Documentation: For an outline of goals of this project as well as an expanation of scoring and grading, consult this document.

T wo pieces of advice. First, make a practice tower some time before the last moment. The most common comment students make is that they should have started earlier. Second, take careful note of how scoring is managed. Strength and height count against you; a heavy tower counts against you. Hight is squared, though, which makes it count more than anything else. Taller is definitely better.
Per%205.htmlPer%206.htmlPer%208.html