This week in computer tech we did a Truss Structure Assignment. For the assignment we had to build a truss structure out of toothpicks and food connectors (carrots, apples, broccoli, etc etc).

This is how mine came out.

As you can see I made my truss structure a cube with eight food connectors and 12 toothpicks. To test the strength of my structure I stacked books on top of it until it collapsed. I got up to three books without it falling over. We had also made another structure in class that held five books, and obviously mine did not exceed this structure but still held quite a few for a small cube made out of toothpicks. I observe that mine only held three books instead of five because it wasn’t as sturdy (although quite sturdy) as the one modeled in class. This was probably because I didn’t push my toothpicks far enough into my food connectors. I also observed that as I piled books on my structure didn’t just stay in one position it slowly learned until the weight of the fourth book while having the three other books took it down, which I found interesting and now I can learn from it and make the next structure I build better. Although my truss structure wasn’t as sturdy as I could have made it, I still find it really cool how it held the weight of all three of those books. Overall I really enjoyed making my structure and I had fun and learned things from testing it. This was a really fun project!