Intro
An earthquake is the result of movements within the Earth’s crust and creates a mass amount of energy that causes the surface of the Earth to shake violently. These natural occurrences are due to the tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust constantly moving against each other and can cause huge destruction in places they hit. The severity of an earthquake can be measured through the Richter scale that measures the strength of the earthquake out of 10. Every 1.0 stronger the earthquake is the 10x stronger it is, for example a 7.0 earthquake measured on the Richter scale is 10x stronger then a 6.0 one and 100x stronger then a 5.0, etc. Earthquakes over the years have taken many lives as a result of the immense energy it can give off which can destroy infrastructure. This is why engineers have been designing and producing earthquake resistant buildings that won’t collapse during the shaking of an earthquake. Due to this recent movement, in class we have been given the challenge to construct our very own earthquake-proof structure made out of spaghetti and blu-tack in groups and put it to the test.
Here are the rules:
- Has a minimum height of 30cm
- Has a minimum base of 30x30cm.
- The build costs less then $60.
- 10cm of spaghetti is worth $1.
- 1g of blu-tack is worth $1.
Our group
Our group of 4 consisted of Marshall Tomlinson, Elliot Sarmidi, Nicholas Mulcahy and myself. First of all we gave each other roles and jobs that will collaborate together based off what we were good at. Elliot was assigned the job of researching and applying designs of the structure based off real world buildings that were deemed earthquake resistant. He also applied how much the design would cost so we didn’t go over the budget of $60. Nicholas was given the role of documenting the whole process down. He did a lot of photography work and used his organization to make sure everything we had done was accessible on our Onenote page. Marshall and I were the ones constructing the building. We did this as we both excelled in teamwork and were relatively composed enough to not snap the spaghetti or collapse the structure and waste resources.
Research & Design
The first step in this challenge was researching all the real life designs that were out there and trying to improve among those. As a group we sketched a lot of our ideas on paper and concluded that triangles were the best shape to build off as they are the strongest geometric shape and have little to no weak points. Our first design was a square based pyramid, however the point at the top was a problem due to it not being able to stabilize the lego ninja which was also part of the test to see if it could stay standing. We then went back to the drawing board and came up with a new design that consisted off a cube with cross beams on each side including the base and top. However, this was way too expensive initially but with some cutting down on the blu-tack we made it work with one cross beam on each side with none on the base and two on the top with a supporting beam going through the middle of the cube. This was quite an interesting design but we were determined to make it work. Our total cost for the resources needed to make the design was $59.50 with $47.50 spent on 475cm of spaghetti and $12 spent on 12g of blu-tack.
Creation
After all the researching and planning it was Marshall and I’s time to shine and create our build. An initial challenge we had to contend with was how fragile the spaghetti was as it often snapped when putting any pressure on it with blue-tack and stretching it. After a rough start and a few pieces of spaghetti snapped we were extra careful and slowly but surely pieced together the design. Our process was that Marshall would hold the structure making sure it didn’t bend or collapse while I slowly put the spaghetti and blu-tack on. This was a very tedious process, but we made it work eventually with Nicholas capturing and documenting all the action. After finishing we were very happy with the end result as were confident it would withstand the test.
Testing
The variables of the test were:
- The teacher simulating an earthquake by shaking the base.
- Simulated for 10 seconds.
Our structure passed the test with ease without looking like it would collapse at any point. No pieces of spaghetti were broken and our build wasn’t damaged in any way. Unfortunately, the lego ninja didn’t stay standing but overall we as a group were very happy with how the build stayed intact despite the rigorous shaking.
Reflection
Overall, this was a very positive outcome and all our researching and designing payed off as our build passed the test that mimicked a 7-8 earthquake on the Richter scale. If we were to do this engineering project again I would definitely change the shape of our build as a rectangular prism/cube is expensive and surprisingly not super strong according to geometry. Triangles as we did originally believe are the best way to go and we possibly should’ve done a triangular prism or something of similar standard to increase the stability and strength of the build. Our collaboration when we got going was good as we took into account everyone’s ideas and took on our roles well. We did at times get a little side-tracked as it was a long project that extended into weeks of planning and building prototypes and designs, however as a team we collaborated well and got the job done. What helped our success was our assigning of jobs based off strengths that we had, which looking back would’ve saved a lot of time and made our group more efficient in what we were doing.
Conclusion
This task gave me the awareness of how important planning is for events that could be years away but with effort could save many lives. I learnt a lot about how the energy of an earthquake can be neutralized with the right design of infrastructure and the different techniques of earthquake resistant buildings. I also furthered my skills of leadership, teamwork and resilience during this project and enjoyed the satisfaction of the final result after a lot of hard work.
