How do I build a strong toothpick tower?

Question

-Must be only 120 FLAT wooden toothpicks or less
-Must use only Elmer's glue
-Must be 3 toothpicks high
-Must have a 2 toothpick by 2 toothpick base (minimum)
-MAY base tower on cardboard
-Must hold 10 lbs.

*Please do not tell me to use triangles, unless you can describe an efficient way to use them, again, DO NOT tell me to use triangles unless you can describe how*

So, any ideas? :D

Answer 1

Ignore cylinder dude. They squash sideways. And, the triangle people are stuck in Flat Land. Your basic building block should be the a tetrahedron made from six toothpicks. A tetrahedron is a solid with 4 flat sides and 6 edges. The edges are the toothpicks. The four sides are each an equilateral triangle. It's basically a little pyramid looking thing. Everything should be built up from this basic shape.

Answer 2

Toothpick Tower

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do I build a strong toothpick tower?
-Must be only 120 FLAT wooden toothpicks or less
-Must use only Elmer's glue
-Must be 3 toothpicks high
-Must have a 2 toothpick by 2 toothpick base (minimum)
-MAY base tower on cardboard
-Must hold 10 lbs.

*Please do not tell me to use triangles, unless you can describe an efficient...

Answer 4

The strongest structure is the CYLINDER. This is because when you put weight on a cylinder, it will dissipate the weight equally throughout, so it has no weak spots.

If you notice on bridges, the triangular structures are hooked up with cylindrical steel bars.

Make triangles (also very strong since they distribute the weight equally to all vertices) and arrange them in the shape of a 3-toothpick-tall cylinder. That would work in theory (although since you can't get a perfect cylinder out of it, you might be better off building a triangular prism!)

Answer 5

Here you go:

You should absolutely cover every single toothpick you use with glue and use a pyramid type structure to build your structure. The best way to make this work is to let the glue start to dry before you begin to build... this will create the strongest possible structure for this experiment. also if you have enough toothpicks you can also double each pick up for extra stability (creating double the thickness)...

Answer 6

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use a lot of cross bracing.. Take a look at the boom of a crane, or an antenna tower. They are long structures, very light and very stiff. Lots of cross bracing.. Hope this helps, -Guru

Answer 7

from experience, when we were tesing how much weight a toothpick bridge could hold, we found that the group who put the most glue on the bridge, held more weight.

Answer 8

think triangles, it is the strongest geometric shape/form. look at towers like tv and radio types. add gussets also for added strength

Answer 9

build it in a shape of a triangle its the best

Answer 10

Sorry dude,
it's triangles all the way up.