Prototype 2

After testing both Ant Bridge and Prototype 1, our group realized that Prototype 1 would be a better design, making it our final design. The bridge was 217 g, 54 cm long, 10 cm tall, and 14 cm wide. The main difference between prototype 1 and 2 was that we made many more triangles on the second prototype.  We made the base and the top of our bridge mainly out of triangles.  This new strategy was better than our last prototype's strategy, but yet it was not perfect because the top of our bridge was not flat, and unproportional to the bottom.  This caused the top of our bridge to start to snap when compression increased.  Our future modifications were to make the top of our bridge equal in width to the bottom, as well as orient the top-layer of popsicle sticks vertically to increase inertia, giving our bridge more strength.  Also, the joints of prototype 1 proved very weak, as the popsicle sticks met at an angle. In the future, glued areas that experience great stress when weight is applied should have a larger surface of contact, and ideally flush.  Another point of weakness for this bridge was that the upper railings had cross-supports in an "X" style.  The bracing technique used created stress on the bridge, even when weight was not being applied, therefore causing the top level to twist.  In future models, the top layer's popsicle sticks will be oriented vertically and bracing will not apply stress to the skeleton.

Prototype 2- Notice a progression in the efficiency of the mass of this bridge, compared to the previous designs.