8th graders excel in cantilever challenge

As a way of helping shake off the summer rust and get them thinking like engineers again, Mike Dale set his 8th grade technology students a cantilever challenge this afternoon. 

Students were given 4 sheets of standard printer paper, 12 inches of tape and the charge of  creating as long a cantilever as possible without exceeding 2 inches of deflection.

A cantilever is a structural element that is anchored to a foundation on only one side, with the other end extending out into open space. Deflection is a measure of the degree to which a structure sags below its anchor point - in this case, the top of a table. 

Students worked in pairs on the challenge, testing out different structural designs to see which worked best.

We’ve got to throw a special shout out to Noah W. and Kayden T., who created a cantilever extending 43 inches during Dale’s 8b period class.

Not too shabby, fellas!