How do we know the Brooklyn Bridge won't fall down? Entry 1 - Entry 2 - Entry 3 - Entry 4 - Entry 5

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ENTRY 4 We went back to the book The Art of Construction and looked up suspension bridges in the index . We went to the pages on suspension bridge cables and found the same kind of question we were asking ourselves. The book said that structures can't be changing their shape all the time, so you have to keep the cable from changing shape every time a car goes over the bridge. From there it told us about the hangers and trusses that are used to stiffen and stabilize the bridge, and other cool stuff. After walking across the bridge and then reading the book we understood a lot better how the bridge can support all that load and not collapse. We also found out that the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge in Japan is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It's main span is 5,840 feet long. That's over a mile long! Tomorrow we're going to explain what we learned to the class, and do another demonstration. We told Ms. T that nobody has to fall down this time and she said "Good!" Back to the top | Jocelle's next journal entry