Ian (and I) built a bridge from a bag of 75 popsicle sticks and plain white Elmer's glue as part of the Engineering Badge for Cub Scouts. Last night, his den's bridges were all tested to the breaking point. Ian's bridge weighed 3.1 ounces and held 405 pounds before breaking. That's an efficiency of 2090 (meaning the bridge held more than 2000 times its own weight)! The next best bridge held 280 pounds.
I took a high-speed video using an LG Dare cell phone. Here are the last 30 seconds showing the last weight being added, the Big Break, and Ian's reaction (that's him in the white T-shirt directly behind the bridge). It looks like the diagonal I-Beam closest to the camera detached from the bottom tension member.
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