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Physics of Media Arts: Conceptual Physics for Students of the Media Arts

Aaron Wong

Lab Activity 10.4.1 Toothpick Structures

Introduction.

We are going to build some simple structures out of toothpicks to try to understand a little bit more about building structures that are stable under loads.

Equipment List.

  • A box of toothpicks (a couple hundred is enough)
  • Hot glue gun
  • Several books and/or binders
  • Craft paper, cardboard, or other protective surface so you don’t damage the table you’re working on

Procedure.

We are going to create a number of three-dimensional shapes out of toothpicks. Then we will test them to see how strong they are. You may find it somewhat challenging at first to use the hot glue gun. It may be helpful for you to lay out a sheet of paper and do your gluing on that, so that you can just tear the paper and not worry about it.
  1. Lay out the protective surface on top of whatever table you’re working on.
  2. Use the hot glue gun to stick the ends of the toothpicks together to make four of each of the following shapes:
    • Cube: Create two squares and then attach the appropriate corners together with a toothpick in the middle.
    • Reinforced Cube: Create a cube, then add diagonal pieces to the four vertical sides. You can break the toothpicks for the cube to make them smaller if you wanted to go from corner-to-corner. But if you don’t want to do that, you can just attach the diagonals to the sides of the square.
    • Pyramid with square base: Create a square, then add one vertical toothpick from each of the corners to create the pyramid.
  3. For each shape, arrange the four pieces in a rectangle so that the first book and/or binder rests comfortably on them. (For the pyramids, the tip of the pyramid should point upward). After everything appears to be stable, give the weight a little nudge in each direction to see if it remains stable. (It should survive this.)
  4. Add a second weight and repeat the process. Continue adding weights until the structure fails. If you run out of weights before the structure fails, you can push downward on it to try to get it to fail. Be sure to give it a nudge in each direction after each weight to check for overall stability. When the structure fails, make a note of how it failed. Here are some potential observations to consider: Did it fail during a nudge or by simply adding weight? Did a toothpick break, or did a glue joint fail? If it failed, did the joint remain intact or did it break?

Discussion.

  1. Which of your structures was the strongest?
  2. Which of your structures was the weakest?
  3. What ideas do you have for making a stronger structure? (If you have the time, you might even want to try to build this.)

Conclusion.

These structures hint at some of the basic concepts that are used to create strong and stable structures.

Lab Write-Up Guidance.

Use the following outline to help you write up your lab report completely and correctly.
  • Title and Header.
    What is the title of the lab and who was in the lab group?
  • Introduction.
    In your own words, what was the purpose of the lab activity?
  • Procedure.
    Describe the steps of the lab.
  • Results and Data.
    Describe the failure of each of the structures.
  • Discussion.
    Answer the discussion questions. Be sure that you state the original question and organize it in a way that is easy to follow.
  • Conclusion.
    Write a couple paragraphs about the lab. Did you find anything interesting or surprising?
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