Sixth Form Physicists Test Their Engineering Skills

Over the last three weeks, the Lower Sixth A-Level physicists have been embarking on a group practical engineering project to design and build a balsawood bridge to span a 125cm gap. The only catch? They’d be testing their own designs by walking across it, over 10m up in the air spanning two platforms on the school’s High Ropes course. Following weeks of frantic sawing, cutting, gluing, and sanding, hopes were high (literally) for a winning design, that which could withstand the greatest load per unit mass of the bridge itself. The result? A lot of Sixth Form physicists dangling halfway across the gap with a shower of balsawood falling below! Despite some excellent designs, few managed a full crossing, highlighting the tough engineering skills required to complete what seems, at first, an easy task. One group, with a beautifully designed bridge, did succeed in crossing their bridge twice before disaster struck.