It sounded quite impossible to me at first but after discussing as a group and planning out our structure, our structure was actually quite successful ! :) We didnt manage to capture a picture of our end product though ><
Our FInal design was to create a cone-like base such that it would be able to sustain the heavy weight of the upper body of the tower. We stuffed balls of newspaper under the cone to increase its weight and that it would not topple over easily.
For the upper body of the tower, we rolled up thin pieces of newspaper and connected it to one another . As we were building up the tower, we decreased the size of the newspaper roll so that the weight of the upper body would not be heavier than the lower body such that the entire tower will topple over due to gravitational forces. Our tower kind of looked like the eiffel tower with its triangular shape.
Concepts behind the tower:
The strength of a building material can depend on how it is used. Pleating or rolling paper can increase its stiffness. By crumpling, folding, and otherwise reshaping the flimsy flat sheets and by forming a wide base, students can make their newspaper sheets in this activity stand up and reach unexpected heights
Many forces are at work on towers. Gravity and the dead load of a towers will push down, the ground pushes back up, and small air movements push from the side. A foundation distributes the load into the surrounding ground material and can help balance the sideways wind force. The size of the foundation depends on the strength of the supporting ground. A foundation placed in rock can be smaller than a foundation placed in sand or mud.
( taken from: http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/lesson-build-a-tower/) More reads: :)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/skyscraper/index.html
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