Polar Stick Bridge Competition

Snap. Crackle. Pop.

No, I’m not talking about the famous breakfast cereal. Snap, crackle, pop were the sounds heard during the Polar Stick Bridge competition held Thursday, November 17 in the Spencer Engineering Building.

Hosted by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, the 2005 Polar Stick Bridge Completion was open to all Western Engineering students and high schools students.

All competitors were given 1 kg of Polar Sticks, 2 bottles of glue, and 1 spool of floss to build a bridge to withstand as much weight as possible.

Each bridge was measured, weighed and then put to the ultimate test as 10 kg weight plates were hung from the centre of the base of the bridge.

Some bridges cracked when the first weight was applied; others withstood all the weights Engineering had on-hand (300 kg), which meant the Bridge Buster hydraulic system had to be used to ultimately destroy the bridge.

When the bridge called "Julia's Bridge" was brought to the table, there were a lot of ohhhhs and ahhhhs. Even Civil Engineering Professor, and commentator for the evening, Mike Bartlett said, "I don't want to persuade the aesthetics judges, but this is a nice looking bridge"

Julia's Bridge, designed by Julia Fediw, a grade 11 student from Oakridge Secondary School, was not only a nice looking bridge, it was also the bridge that won the best high school design.

"I have three uncles who are engineers so there was a little bit of pressure for me to compete," says Fediw. "I m one of the only girls in my high school interested in engineering, but I'm still looking forward to attending Western Engineering in a few years."

Nick Oppedisuno, a first-year Western Engineering student, won Best Overall Bridge and Best Bridge by a first-year student with his Little Bridge That Could design. Jackie Chang and Meng Fu's Eggstatic Bridge design won Most Aesthetically Pleasing Bridge.

Polar Stick Bridge Photos

Newsletter Sections