Newspaper tower for march 20

3/19/2013

2 Comments

 
What's the tallest tower you can build using only two sheets of newspaper?
Here's the challenge: getting the newspaper to stand up, without using tape, staples, glue, or other materials. But you can bend, fold, or tear the paper itself.

What You Need
• 2 sheets of newspaper
• ruler

Make a Prediction
Make a prediction about how tall a tower you can build. What is your prediction based on?

Try It Out
1. Now construct your tower. If you think you can make it taller, keep redesigning it until you can't go any higher. 
2. When you are finished building, measure the height of your tower.

Explain It
• How did your result compare to your prediction? 
Give possible reasons for any difference. What limited the height of your tower? 
• If you could use one other material to make your tower taller, what would it be? Why?

Build on It
• How much taller can you make the tower if you can add 20 centimeters (about 8 in.) of tape? (You can't tape the tower to the table.) How tall can you make the tower and have it support the weight of a pack of chewing gum?
• How well does your tower withstand environmental forces? Use a fan to imitate wind gusts or shake the table gently to imitate an earthquake. How can you change your design, using 2 sheets of newspaper and 20 cm of tape, to better withstand these forces?



 
2 Comments
Jacob goike
3/20/2013 02:35:02 am

Prediction- 3ft, the knowledge of how weak paper is. It is not very sturdy so it is very limited.
We were off by 1 ft.
The lack of tape or other support items limited the height of it. Also, the flimsy was of the paper limited the height.
I would use tape to make the tower taller because it would allow the tower to be conjoined easier and it would make it less flimsy.
If tape was added, I believe the tower could be taller at a minimum of 1ft.
3ft because the chewing gum would add pressure so it would reduce the height by making it smaller.
Our tower does not hold very well for wind and earthquakes. It lasted a second or two.
By making a larger base and making the actual tower more of a condensed tube.

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Alex Sheppard
3/20/2013 02:35:15 am

We predicted that the tower would be around 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. We picked this based on previous knowledge of how flimsy paper is.
Our tower was only 2 feet tall. That is because the paper was hard to work with. We tried to make a tubing sort of contraption and so we had to shorten our original design. Tape would have been pretty helpful. It would have added stability to our design.
With the tape we could make it about a foot taller.
To hold the weight if chewing gum I would say that the tallest we could make the tower would be 2 1/2 feet because the base would need to be sturdy enough to hold the weight and allow the tower not to fall over and we only are allowed to use two sheets if newspaper.
With the wind our design did not hold up very well.
To change our design we could make a bigger base by taking off some of the height.

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