What do bridges have to do with science?

Question

for a science summer project, i have to take pictures and tell what they have to do with science. i took a picture of a bridge, but i have no idea how bridges and science could be related..PLEASE HELP!!

Answer 1

while people built bridges before Newton was alive, modern bridges are based heavily on materials science, such as applied chemistry. For example, the types of cement and cables (such as steel) were invented by scientists. The most efficient bridges - the ones that can stretch for thousands of meters across a large body of water for example, require a very good understanding of geometry and physics, including things most people forget like wind and resonance.

Some bridges actually collapse because they vibrate from wind or cars going over them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mclp9QmC...

Answer 2

Physics and chemistry.  Physics would be what you would use to figure out the weight, the length and anything else when designing and building the bridge.  Chemistry because you have to figure out what material to use to protect from the elements.

Answer 3

1. For forced vibration of objects a special case called resonance occurs when the driver and driven frequencies are the same and that will lead to maximum amplitude. If soldiers are allowed to cross the bridge in marchpast  then the bridge will collapse and hence they will be allowed to move randomly.

2.The cantilever and arc type of support in the beam construction can be explained as an physical science model with the bridge.

3. As lighter sense you can also say that in electrical engineering we have no. of bridges like wheatstones bridge, a.c.bridges and kelvin bridges etc which connects two parts of differnt potential ina circuit and like that this bridge connects two landscapes sepatrated by a river or canal.

4. Some bridges are supported by pillar in the bottom and others are suspended type like swinging types. Hence the action of forces in different dierctions and centre of mass of systems can be explained with the help of the bridges.

5. In elasticity the maximum load, elastic limit and other similar properties could be well understood with the help of the vechicles movement with load optimum or excess only whenthey cross the bridges. So use your photos and explain that . Imagine like this and there can be no. of such options including the material science aspects of the things used for constructing it.

Answer 4

there is no way you could build a bridge without taking the physics of the whole project into account.

Answer 5

Bridges rely on the properties of the materials they are built with to withstand the load they are designed to carry.  We use science to engineer a bridge that will not fail, but is not over engineered to waste money and resources.

So engineering a bridge requires scientific knowledge of:

Physics:  Forces - Gravity, wind, moving water, wave harmonics, load distribution calculations

Chemistry - Concrete, steel, other materials - even paint

Material properties - tinsel strength, crush Resistance, elasticity,  brittleness, vulnerability to decay or corrosion.

Geology - how will the bridge supports be made stable?

Hydrology - how will moving water affect the bridge supports?

Structural Engineering - Arches, cantilevers, cables, girder design, trusses.

Hope that helps.