Structure question

[Anonymous No.5165135]

Today in my engineering class our professor decided to have a quick little game with us and see who could make the tallest tower out of spaghetti. It had to hold some marshmallow at the top.

I got paired up with two other people in the class and immediately they decided to make a triangular structure that started to become a teepee. In fact, most of the other groups were doing a similar thing. I wanted to build some sort of structure in the form of a tower (pic related). Of course the teepee idea started to collapse to one side due to an imbalance of weight.

So my question is: Why do people go to that design? I don't understand. Is there something I'm missing or is it just a really quick go-to design?

[Anonymous No.5165140]

Triangles are easy to make and are the strongest structure.

[Anonymous No.5165141]

>Today in my engineering class our professor decided to have a quick little game with us and see who could make the tallest tower out of spaghetti. It had to hold some marshmallow at the top.

>He asked us who brought their own spaghetti. Everyone's hands went up.

>engineering class

[Anonymous No.5165157]

>>5165140
That makes sense, but wouldn't it be easier to make a triangular prism versus a pyramid structure? Or is the pyramid structure stronger and can produce a higher height?

>>5165141
Haha I was hoping someone wouldn't make that connection!

[Anonymous No.5165164]

>>5165140
This indeed. Did this shit in high school. Make triangles everywhere. Teepee collapsed because of unstable base. Use square base.

[Anonymous No.5165183]

This is freshman engineering and we used spaghetti to hold up pounds of metal weights. Our group immediately went to an eiffel tower structure as it seemed obvious, and while we didn't win, another group with the same concept and a little better building won. I don't think I saw anyone retarded enough to build a straight fucking triangle/prism/cone.

[Anonymous No.5165200]

>>5165183
Really in my FEP class we had to do something similar. We only had 4 or 5 straight pieces of noodle. So we did a tower type thing which was basically a pyramid with the marshmallow on top and then another noodle sticking out of that vertically. It was like a couple feet tall and most other groups opted to do the same. We only had 3 minutes to come up with a design as well haha

[Anonymous No.5165201]

>>5165183


this, wtf. usually people are smart enough to at least make a stable base and then go for the retard triangle mode

[Anonymous No.5165202]

KULeuven?

[Anonymous No.5165215]

Professor was testing your leadership skills, not your building skills.

He wanted to see who was going to step up to the plate and propose an idea and get others to follow them. Leadership and willingness to convey your ideas for criticism is a major part of engineering in teams.

[Anonymous No.5165225]

>>5165215
wtf, no it's not. this is a project done in almost all freshman engineering classes and you rarely declare design proposals as an individual. Engineering is strictly based on working as a team; not on who is a leader. This isn't wolf pack survival skills in the arctic, you fucker.

[Anonymous No.5165227]

>>5165215
Yeah I noticed that was important too, but they literally just stared at me like I was speaking gibberish when I said we should build a tower with a truss system. Then they went on to continue to build a teepee. A good team helps too.. I just didn't care at that point. It wasn't for a grade or anything, just for fun.

[Anonymous No.5165256]

>>5165225

You declare design proosals to your team you retard, being too pussy to tell your team their idea is shit makes you a shitty leader and team member


lrn2team

[Anonymous No.5165315]

>>5165256
and how the fuck does a professor objectively grade that. did he make you write a report that said member x declared such design and we said it was shit and then moved onto a better design. No, the ultimate outcome of the project has to do with the team itself. A shitty project has to do with a shitty team/team members. A good project was the result of a team working together. A team rarely can work together based on the lowest common denominator, which is basically what would have had to happen in order to do incredibly poorly in this most basic of design problems

[Anonymous No.5165343]

>>5165315

I didn't say he was objectively grading it, I highly doubt the professor even graded their design.

If one member realizes the other members idea is shit and can't convey this to make them change their mind, they're a bad team member

[Anonymous No.5165361]

>>5165343
No, they are part of a bad team. That is basically what defines the lowest common denominator. Being unable to communicate the ideas of the group to the others sort of conveys the lack of intelligence in the team as a whole because a more intelligent individual would be able to do just that.

[Anonymous No.5165403]

>>5165135
Triangle is the most sturdy shape we know of, next to cylinders. You should have made some sort of cylinder or grouping of them in a cylindrical fashion.

[Anonymous No.5165414]

What is the angle of repose of dry spaghetti shards?

[Anonymous No.5165451]

>>5165361

So you blame your team instead of yourself?

You sure are a great team member

[Anonymous No.5165499]

>Making a spaghetti tower
Make a dynamic structure. Like a space fountain of spaghetti.

[Anonymous No.5165513]

>>5165451
the team is honestly as good as it's weakest member. you sound like you're a wanna be manager, shouldn't you know that?

[Anonymous No.5165759]

the reason why ppl go for that design is it is the strongeest design out there check diamond structure and you will see the smilar thing.As we know diamond is the hardest material because of the atomic sturucture.