Who has had a project in Physics where there is 2 pieces of paper and 10 cm of tape?

Question

You have to make a tower with only those materials. What would be the best way to do this?

Answer 1

roll paper into a tube and secure with a peice of the tape,
stand it up -- tear and fold at the base if necessary

next with the second piece make a cone, secure the cone, you guess with another bit of the tape

then attach to your tube,

giving you a nice tower - hope you get good marks

Answer 2

It depends on the criteria the tower is being judged on. Are you trying to make it as tall as possible without falling over? To make it a specified height and have it bear as much weight as possible? If the latter, is the weight stabilized in some way, such as having the tower fit over a post?

In general, if you want weight-bearing strength you're best off with just a few verticals as thick as possible, and minimal structure between them to stabilize so that you've got as much as possible to put into the weight-bearing columns.

They should be rolled if there's enough tape to keep them rolled up effectively, whereas if you're building for height you'll probably want paper strips creased into a V or Z cross-section for most of your compression-bearing components. It doesn't take a very wide strip of paper to bear tension.

Answer 3

make a cone for your base and the remaining structure, roll the paper. the trick is to make sure the tower doesn't fall over and collapse on itself. tube, which is what you are making by rolling the paper up, will make a stiffer structure. the conic base is so it wont fall over.