Bellingham Washington. Physics and engineering students from both
public and private high schools represented their respective regions.
Only two students from each region were allowed to attend. Mike
Eckardt, a physics student at Patchogue-Medford High School, placed
second at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s regional competition.
The Lab sent Mike and his family to compete across the United States
in the state of Washington.
The idea of the contest is to design and build a bridge that can hold
the most mass while being as light as possible. The efficiency of the
bridge determines the final placement. Mike’s bridge placed 16th in the
nation. The mass was suspended beneath the bridge. Different mass
weights were added by the competitor until the bridge would ultimately
fail. Placing the weights was an art, in that, if a weight was dropped or
too large of a mass was added the bridge would break prematurely.
Thus lowering the possible efficiency and lowering your placement.
Click to watch Mike’s bridge break.
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