Team London's bridge is put to the test during the 27th annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition.
(Edmonton) You'd be surprised what you can do with 100 Popsicle sticks and a little white glue.
More than 30 teams of engineering students entered the 27th annual Civil Engineering Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition today, battling for glory and cash.
Each of the 30 student teams and a handful of professional engineering teams received a standard package of 100 Popsicle sticks, a container of glue and specification on the size of their bridges. Today, their creations were put to the test, with hundreds of pounds of pressure being applied to each bridge until each reached its breaking point.
The student teams were competing for a total of $1,200 in prize money-with $500 going to the team with the strongest bridge. The next-most-coveted prize is for most spectacular fail, an award presented on the bridge that best goes to pieces at its failure point.
The event is pure fun for some participants and rather serious for others, according to event organizer Alex Calotes, a fourth-year civil engineering student who serves as the vice president (technical) of the Civil Engineering Students' Society.
"You can make this as fun or as serious as you want," he said. "Some teams do calculations to determine the strength of their bridges, some model their bridges of Autocad and some run it through other structural software."
This begs the question: how much weight can a tiny bridge made from Popsicle sticks hold before breaking? Last year's winner passed the 700-Lbs. mark.
The winner of last year's competition launched an online fundraising campaign to compete at the national Popsicle stick bridge competition. Calotes and his fellow students are hoping to raise funds to send a team to the nationals again this year. For information or to contribute, connect with Calotes at acalotes@ualberta.ca .