By Rachel Atkinson
The bridge may have been little. In fact, it weighed a mere 49.3 grams, but held more than 2,000 pounds. It was constructed by Russell Lay, and took first place at the BYU annual bridge-breaking contest Friday, Feb. 27, 2004.
Lay, a civil engineering student and winner of last year”s event, said he has participated in the bridge breaking contest for five years. He said he calculated the moments of inertia to create a stronger bridge.
“They are just fun to build,” Lay said. “It”s like a little kid building model airplanes or something.”
With this year”s bridge, holding 2,181 pounds, Lay finally met his goal of constructing a bridge that could hold more than 2,000 pounds. His wife Carmen said the bridge-breaking contest is his favorite event of the year. Lay said he plans on participating again next year.
For bridges to qualify for the contest, they could be 6 inches high, 10 inches between the two footings and had to weigh less than 50 grams.
Doug Hunsaker, a mechanical engineering student, took second place. Hunsaker”s bridge weighing 38.6 grams held 1,189 pounds.
Hunsaker said he spent six hours constructing his bridge. He chose square beams and a symmetrical design because he said they are the strongest.
“This bridge died because it didn”t have enough glue on it,” Hunsaker said. “So make sure you put glue on your bridge.”
A bridge constructed by civil engineering students Jake Merkley and Scott Smith took third place.
Dave Anderson, supervisor of the labs for the civil engineering department, conducted the contest. He said the event sponsored by BYU”s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers has been conducted at BYU for some time and in high schools in the area for 32 years.
He said ASCE members arrange the balsa wood bridge-breaking kits as a fundraiser, and generally give out 3,000 kits per year to high schools. The Civil Engineering Department donates the time of a faculty member to go to the schools and break their bridges.
Anderson said any bridge holding more than a thousand pounds is good. He said Lay”s bridge is one of the strongest bridges he has seen broken at BYU.
