Watch a Dozen Tiny Bridges Tested to the Breaking Point

Structural engineering tested the hard way.


A bridge is only as good as the weight that it can carry, and some designs are better than others. Sure, you can learn a lot about the pros and cons by flipping through a textbook but some lessons are best learned first-hand.

Anthony Reinfield posted a YouTube video that features just that sort of learning, in which students in what appears to be a physics class all have various bridge designs tested to the failure point as an ever larger amount of sand is added to a bucket hanging from the center of each bridge.

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Below is a slightly sped up version, with the failures featured in all their glory.

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The video was posted to Reddit, where several commenters helped collect and summarize some of the data. Redditor rejeremiad kept track of the final loads of all 15 bridges, and determined the winner is bridge number 14, a curved design which held 10 cups of sand. Second place went to bridge number 11—a triangular bridge with vertical supports—which held 9 cups before failing.

Kind of makes you want to go back to school, doesn't it?

Source: Anthony Reinfield via Digg

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