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Oh hi, I probably know you then! :) ... But yeah, Longfellow really is amazing at what they do, I believe they've won 8th at Nationals recently? Hopefully we can increase Virginia's score in Division C this year! :D I don't believe we have met, I have not been to any of the tournaments this year. B...

I heard Longfellow has Science Olympiad as an elective lol... My friend could be wrong but that's what he told me. This was not the case couple of years ago when I was a Longfellow parent. I would be pleasantly surprised if the school has constituted an elective course with a focus on STEM in gener...

Also, really interesting to see TJ make it for div. C. It'll be fascinating to see how they do at Nationals - lots of talent there, clearly. The school has the same sort of design as Troy or LASA or NC, and it sounds to me like the team is set up relatively similarly to what Troy does (obviously th...

I believe that bending only occurs if there is "give" in the boomilever, most likely the tension strips. When the tension members begin to bend, the main compression shape of your boom should begin to bend as well. I would not characterize bending like this. I would say, the boom has thre...

Also, how can I calculate the moment of inertia of the entire compression structure? (This is in a 'box-beam' style boom.) My best guess is to use the general formula I=\frac{bh^3}{12} , but I would think it's more complex than that. If by box-beam, you mean a hollow rectangular section, then its M...

A vertical piece in the middle of the compression member connected to the middle of the tension member would help brace the compression member from buckling, but the force is not very big so may not affect the tension member that much? Did I interpret the posts you posted correctly? Also, how would...

...maybe it is possible that people have tested and concluded those vertical supports may be able to reduce more weight from the compression part of the boom than they would add to the boom( their own mass + using slightly stronger tension members.) Can anyone confirm this? but this would most like...

...but I always thought that putting a force on the tension member like that would take the member out of pure tension and allow it to fail much sooner than other members... is that true? True. But, you may not have any choice if you need to control buckling in the compression member using bracings...

For the simple triangular design, the vertical member that connects the tension member to the compression member carries very little axial force. Well, theoretically speaking the applied load causes no axial force in that member, if the compression member is horizontal. The (vertical) member mainly ...

Wow, the discussion is getting interesting. I have a question, though. Will longer tubes hold less than shorter tubes of the same thickness and diameter? For example, iwonder said his tube was "3.75" long, weighed 1.2g and held 50kg before failure." So will a 16 inch tube (~40 cm) ho...