Building and Structures Test Study Guide

Definitions to Know:

Hypothesis: A guess as to what you think will happen and why you think it will happen.

Materials: The things you need to do the experiment

Procedure: The steps you need to do to complete the experiment

Observations: The things you see, hear, smell, feel and/or taste while you are doing the experiment.

Conclusions: What did we learn from the experiment.

Beam: A horizontal piece of steel, wood or concrete used to support mass.

Pillar: A vertical piece of steel, wood or concrete used to support mass.

Fair Test: A test or experiment where everything is the same and only one thing is changed.

Engineer: A person who builds safe and strong structures.

Architect: A person who designs safe and strong structures.

Concepts to Know:

Arches and Squares: An arch is stronger than a square because the mass or weight is spread equally. Many bridges and tunnels are built using an arch because it is so strong. An arch is also strong because it has no corners.

Arches need a strong heavy base and often have brick or walls built along the sides to keep it from bending.

Stable Structures: Structures and buildings need to be stable so that they do not fall over. The taller a structure is, the wider the base needs to be.

A tree is stable because it has a solid, heavy base underground and goes from wide to thin. Buildings are built like trees. They have a solid, heavy bottom underground and go from wide to thin.

Pillars: Pillars are vertical beams. Cylindrical pillars (a long circular object) are stronger than rectangular beams or triangular beams. Cylindrical pillars are strong because they have no corners. The weight is spread evenly when mass is placed on top. The bigger the structure, the more pillars you need. Having pillars just in the corners or just in the middle does not make a structure strong.

Venice is a city that uses millions of pillars to hold the city above the water.

Beams: Beams are horizontal pieces of steel, wood or concrete. Engineers use box girders, I beams and accordion beams (called trusses) to construct buildings.

Triangles: Triangles are very strong shapes. It keeps its shape no matter where the weight is placed on it. Triangles are used everywhere to make objects stronger. You can add triangles to weak shapes like squares and rectangles to make them stronger.

The more corners something has, the weaker the shape.

Engineers and architects need to make good decisions when designing and building structures.They need to use strong materials and the right amount of materials so that they build a structure that is strong, stable but does not cost more than they are allowed to spend.