Vacation Program
- Tuesday, February 20, 2018
- 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
- Designed for ages 9 to 12
- By Andrew Sargent, Site Historian & Lead Educator
Engineers test the limits of materials.
Bridges are the perfect test of engineering. Every bridge must answer many questions. Can it be constructed? Will it carry normal loads? Will it handle extra large loads? Will it withstand winds, and floods, and snowstorms? Will it last for many years? Is it affordable?
Take a quick online tour of bridges around the world that answer these questions in unusual ways. Take a tour of answers that have failed. Take a close look at the Museum's bridge that Ithiel Town designed 200 years ago. Then build bridges. Construct a futuristic arch bridge that Leonardo Da Vinci proposed for the Sultan of Turkey. Construct a Roman arch that will hold your weight. Master an interlocking bridge that Leonardo devised. Join a team to construct a 3 foot spaghetti bridge to be tested with increasing weights.
