MMS Tech Ed

Engineering/ Bridge Efficiency Worksheet   

 

Company:_______________________________________                  Block: ______

Employee (s) filling out form: ______________________________________________

Summary- The efficiency of your bridge is the mathematical ratio of the weight held by your bridge, to its own weight.  It is a way of comparing your design with another, even if the shapes are different.

The efficiency will be a number, ranging from 2 to over 10,000.  For  example, you computed an efficiency of 2,212.  This means your design needed 2,212 of its own  weight  piled on top of it, in order to break it.

The efficiency is found by knowing 2 things about your bridge:

  1. the weight in pounds (lbs.) that it took to break it                _______lbs.
  2. your bridge's weight in grams (g.)                                       _______g

   3.    To fill in the ratio formula, you need to know the amount of grams your bridge held, not pounds.            To change pounds to grams, multiply the pounds by 454.

                    ________lbs. X 454 = __________g

Now using these answers in #2 and #3, fill in the efficiency formula:

                                                load (g) / bridge weight (g)   

                                     ( #3)  /  (#2)  this means divide #3, by #2

    4.    Fill out the formula and compute your efficiency here:

 

    5.   Our design's efficiency is  _______.

 

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