Careful... Is it working so far?
Okay, look! We've already got our tower twice the height that we had it. Can we go any higher...?
It might not look like the smartest thing to do, to let your children make this
kind of a mess in the kitchen,
but we've had loads of fun today building with marshmallows and spaghetti, so from my
point of view it's completely been worth it.
You probably have toys at home like LEGO or some other kind of building toys
but we decided to use these today because in some ways the challenges that
you face
working with these materials are actually more like the challenges that real
engineers face. One of those challenges is thinking about the
properties of the materials that you're using. Their flexibility,
and their strength. It has also been huge
fun for me to watch my own children discover for themselves
the kind of shapes that work well for building and those that don't.
I can make a square? Try and make a square, yeah.
Ah, that's good way to make a tower.
Yes, Lorenzo, you try to make a square as well, see how you get on.
So Alice, this is going to be a big cube is it?
What do you think is going to happen when I let go?
Umm... it's going to fall.
And what way is it going to fall?
Sideways and go like that!
Do you want to see? Here we go. Yes! So is there anything you could do with the spaghetti
to stop it moving like this?
I could maybe put this in the middle here?
Okay, try that. But I need to find a longer one.
I think they're all the same length, you might need to join them or something.
The spaghetti was too long,
and the cube is of all equal sides. In order to the diaganol
they have to be of different lengths,
and the cube had to be smaller.
So are you going to try making a smaller one? Yeah!
Alice, what about shapes? What shapes do you think are strong?
Triangles... Triangles seem to be good, don't they? Doyou think we can make
another cube on top of this one? No I think we can just make it off and then put it on.
when we've finished.
Okay do you want to try to do that? Okay!
Careful...
A good structure needs to be stiff and strong. That means
it can take a lot of force before it bends and collapses.
This one built by my daughter is actually not too bad.
If you build a square, it only takes a little push on one of the corners
to make collapse. The corners of the square act like hinges.
Any shape made out of more than three sides
can be bent out of shape like this just by changing the angles.
Triangles cannot change shape like this because the corners are not
like hinges.
The third side holds the other two in place, so this means
that you can apply a lot more force and it still keeps
its basic shape. This is what makes them good
for building structures.
No, no no! Ah yes! Yes, yes, yes!
Scientists have invented all sorts of wonderful materials which engineers use.
But before they can be used for
bridges, buildings and other things these materials have to be tested
to explore their strengths and weaknesses.
The long one breaks easier when I swirl them!
Engineers use maths and science to design the things they build,
but they also test their structures and materials to see how they work.
Today, without really knowing the
maths and science behind what they were doing, I watched my children
experience the process of building, testing
and modifying structures, and along the way learn some of the key ideas that
engineers need to know.
I enjoyed doing with my children today because it's not only
a hands-on activity but it's also one that gets them thinking.
And as a little bonus at the end you can eat
the leftover building materials.