The eighth annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Building event was held April 29 at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt, hosted by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists.
This year, there were 45 bridges entered (17 elementary, 15 secondary, four family, seven adult and two that didn’t meet the rules).
Bridges were constructed prior to the event using only Popsicle sticks (a maximum of 100) and white glue (in some categories with the addition of dental floss). During the contest, finished bridges were tested with a hydraulic machine that measures the pressure the bridges can withstand before collapsing. The force is measured in Newtons (10N = 2.2 pounds).
Current record holder is Lisa Murata, whose entry in 2013 held 3,978.2 Newtons (894 pounds) pressure. Murata’s bridge was the strongest again this year at 1,944.6 N (437 pounds).
Murata was hoping to beat her own record this year, but said, “My bridge failed somewhat spectacularly at a very low weight, worse than last year. Glue failure this time. I used a different type and only built a week ahead of the contest, so that might be it. I’m disappointed not to have done as well as I’d hoped.”
Watch for Murata at next year’s contest.
Winners in the various categories were:
ELEMENTARY
Foster Smith - 855.1
Cael Read - 722.2
Tyler Basha - 649.6
Kalum Neufeld - 487.3
ELEMENTARY (USING DENTAL FLOSS)
Cael Read - 980.8
Samuel Pratt - 266.1
SECONDARY
Nicole Knight - 674.6
Callum Goss - 208.8
Tyrone Hayward and Aiden Oakford - 200.2
SECONDARY (USING DENTAL FLOSS)
Hailie White and Pearl Lumley - 194.9
Abby Ridd and Sydney Coper - 191.6
FAMILY
Isabella Rowan and Matt Rowan - 816
Isaac Izen and Jon Izen - 685
Jared Simpson and Leah Wells - 305
ADULT
Lisa Murata - 1,944.6
Ken Knight - 1,172.8
– Submitted
