UPDATE

It has been a while since I've posted so here's an update! I participated in a Tulsa Engineering Challenge where my friends and I build a toothpick bridge. We drew inspiration from well-constructed bridges in real life and evaluated their structure. We worked on our bridge for many days; this consisted of painting wood glue on toothpicks for hours. Despite all the breaks we took, we eventually completed our bridge. Finally it was the day we put our bridge to the test! We showed up at the Tulsa Tech building and headed to the Toothpick Bridge testing station. After we signed in, we waited in line until our bridge was tested. Unfortunately for my team, the judges stopped the test as soon as one of the side rails came loose. Although our bridge did not perform as we would like it we did not let that get us down. Once we were back at the school, we tested our bridge by weighing books and placing them onto our bridge. Overall, our bridge held up to 11 pounds using our testing method. In the end, we were happy we decided to test our bridge on our own. The Tulsa Engineering Challenge was an amazing experience and I am extremely happy I had the opportunity to participate.