Even satellites use these familiar and basic regular geometries. Mechanical engineers design cranes, which use triangles and squares in their frames. A motorcycle frame uses many triangles to support the wheels and seats. ( Slide 4) Even when we get outside the realm of civil or architectural engineering, we can see how engineers rely on the known strength of shapes. But, if we break each of those shapes down, we can see that they are fundamentally composed of triangles. The structure of geodesic domes is similar to the structure of soccer balls and can be viewed as a group of pentagons and hexagons. The image on the right shows an Antarctic geodesic under construction. The bottom left image shows how a square is reinforced by adding a diagonal cross brace in this scaffolding, which breaks the square into two triangles. Many building frames are simply repeating squares, as shown in the top left. ( Slide 3) Structural engineers use the same types of shapes in buildings. ( Slide 2) When we look carefully at bridges, we can see how structural engineers use different shapes to make the overall design. ( Slide 1) Today we will explore a fundamental structural engineering concept: the strength of shapes. ![]() Make sure students have paper and pencil handy to sketch their ideas as they follow along with the presentation.) (The subsequent text aligns with the Strength of Shapes Presentation, a PowerPoint presentation. Lesson Background and Concepts for Teachers (Next, show students the Strength of Shapes Presentation using the suggested script provided in the Lesson Background section.) Following the lesson, students can conduct the fun and hands-on associated activity Truss Destruction in which they will construct trusses using Popsicle sticks and hot glue, and then test them to failure as they evaluate the relative strength of different truss configurations and construction styles. In this lesson, you are going to learn about how structural engineers rely on fundamental geometries, with which we can easily predict performance, to design structurally sound objects and buildings. In fact, aerospace engineers use structural engineering when they design satellites, mechanical engineers use structural engineering when they design the frames of cars, even computer engineers use structural engineering to figure out how to best connect a video card to a motherboard! Structural engineering, though, is not unique to buildings. The earliest buildings, roads, aqueducts and bridges all required structural design to make sure they were functional and safe. Structural engineering is one of the oldest forms of engineering. They should also know how to calculate the sum of the interior angles of a polygon by reducing the polygon to triangles. ![]() Students should have a basic knowledge of geometry, specifically, know that regular geometric shapes such as squares, pentagons and hexagons can be reduced to triangles. Explain why a triangle is the strongest geometric shape. ![]() List places where they see triangles used to increase structural strength.This lesson engages students in a discussion of the strength of various geometric shapes, such as squares and triangles, without the need for more advance physics-based analysis.Īfter this lesson, students should be able to: The shapes included in these designs have significant effect on the strength of the structures. ![]() Many engineers across various specialty fields engage in structural engineering, from aerospace engineers who design the satellite structures, to civil engineers who design bridges and highway flyovers, to mechanical engineers who design vehicle chassis and the placement of components inside computers and cell phones. Along with its associated activity, this lesson empowers students to explore the strength of trusses made with different triangular elements to evaluate the various structural properties. Examples from everyday life are introduced to show how this shape is consistently used for structural strength. Students learn about the fundamental strength of different shapes, illustrating why structural engineers continue to use the triangle as the structural shape of choice.
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