Get a jump on high school physics and start building bridges now. One of the first engineering projects you ordinarily do in science is the construction of a bridge from drinking straws. It requires knowledge of maths including shapes, length and mass. You’ll finally get to use all those lessons you learned about triangles and rectangles and perimeter. Those little weights you used to place on the triple beam balance to compare them? They were just a stepping stone to get you ready to figure out what could support a certain amount of weight. For example, a single unbent straw isn’t going to be strong enough (or wide enough) to hold a toy car of the die cast matchbox variety.
Start with what you know. You know that lining up a row of straws and balancing the ends on a pair of cups will not stay together or support the car. So you have some options. You can make a choice to draw out your intended design first and then construct it or you can try building from trial and error which means you assemble a bridge design and then if it doesn’t work you modify it to be different—stronger in the places it was weak or longer where it was too short. If you’re artistic or the planning type, the drawing may be the best way for you to start, while a more hands-on person who loves clay and Legos may be most comfortable trying it out with straws and car to begin with. There’s no right or wrong way to begin, just decide what suits your temperament best.
Pick a style to begin with –there are two main types of basic bridge construction: beam and truss. (If you want to learn some engineering terms about bridges go to Museum of Science & Industry site). A bridge is an object built to span the distance between two points above a drop-off such as a steep ravine or waterway. Beam bridges are supported by straight boards (or steel beams or drinking straws in this case) laid crossways beneath the deck or top of the bridge. Truss bridges have triangular supports which allows weight to spread out across the structure.
