Cross-Bracing

During construction, we tested the strength by putting the pair of pliers I was using to bend the paper clips on top of the base to see how sturdy it was. I would gently shake the structure while the pliers were on it to see where I needed more support. Where I needed more support, I added cross-bracing. I continued to test stability by adding more weight, seeing where I needed more support, then fixing the weak areas. This helped make my foundation stronger, which made my whole building stronger and more stable.

To strengthen the weaker areas I put cross-bracing on. I started out with just single braces, but found that it wasn’t strong enough to hold the straws together. My weakest areas were the junctures at which four straws met, such as where the first and second floors met. I bent a paperclip diagonally so I could put more bracing on. This was necessary because when the building shook, the upright straws started to bow outward. The cross-bracing …show more content…
Because all the paper clips weren’t bent the the exact same way, some of the straws stuck up. To fix this, I bent the paper clips into a three-way so there weren’t as many paper clips going into one straw. By doing this, it strengthened the base, and made it easier to attach to the cardboard. To completely attach it, I stuck map pins through the straws and into the cardboard. The structure is much stronger with the map pins connecting it to the base then with paper clips attaching it to the base.

I used string in my building in the places where the straws connected to each other with paper clips. The string kept the straws from slipping out of place while I made adjustments to other parts of the building. The string will also be used to help hold the sand bags so they don’t fall through. The string was used where it was because it was in tension from the straws trying to bow outward. I couldn’t use a straw there because they don’t