Miniature Bridge Design Ideas: Simple or Complex?

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dabomb14
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So I am the leader of a small group who has to build a bridge in 30 minutes on the last day of school. The only materials we can use are play-dough, straws, and rubber bands and it has to stretch 30 cm between two tables. Though I was looking for some ideas of a bridge design to use. Should I go with something simple like a king or queen post or something more complicated like a solid ribbed arch or a through truss? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
 

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dabomb14 said:
So I am the leader of a small group who has to build a bridge in 30 minutes on the last day of school. The only materials we can use are play-dough, straws, and rubber bands and it has to stretch 30 cm between two tables. Though I was looking for some ideas of a bridge design to use. Should I go with something simple like a king or queen post or something more complicated like a solid ribbed arch or a through truss? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Welcome to the PF.

Can you say more about your own ideas for design options? What are the tradeoffs?
 
After thinking about the time it would take to do something very detailed, I was thinking about doing a king's post design. The main tradeoff would be time and material. If it is not completed in time or we a end up short a little of materials to finish, then obviously an unfinished bridge is going to fail.
 
How long are your straws?

Using them in compression is problematic, tension is easier to maintain.
 
I assume basic straw length. We get 50 straws and 300 rubber bands.