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1 Use gumdro
is your base.
is
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T
g.
n
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a
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oothpicks
t
umdrop
icks and 1 g
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2 Use
side of
ngle on one
ia
r
t
a
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ak
m
to
Scoop
Engineering
the base.
es when
n use triangl
Engineers ofte
notice
ildings. Did you
bu
gn
si
de
ey
th
lots of
e is made up of
that your dom
les are
ng
because tria
triangles? That’s
hat means they
le shapes.T
stab
llapse
, twist, or co
don’t bend
em. A
you push on th
easily when
a
stable as
square is not as
Make a square
triangle.Test it.
hpicks
e out of toot
and a triangl
on
n
w
Press do
and gumdrops.
How
e.
of each shap
one corner
?
apes compare
do the two sh
pse
, twist, or colla
Does one bend
r?
an the othe
more easily th
ZOOM
INTO
d the base
the way aroun
3 Repeat all
triangles.
ntil you have 5
u
mdrops
nnect the gu
o
c
to
s
k
ic
p
w
4 Use tooth
ngles. Now ho
ia
tr
e
th
f
o
s
p
at the to
you have?
riangles do
many t
of the
pick into each
th
5 Push 1 too
ops.
top gumdr
Now it’s time for you
to experiment.What
happens if you make a
base with six sides
instead of five sides? Or,
what happens if you build
squares rather than
triangles on top of the
base? Choose one thing
to change (that’s the
variable), and predict
what you think will happen.
Then test it and send
your results to ZOOM at
pbskids.org/zoom/sendit
p to connect
ro
d
m
gu
st
la
e
6 Use on
ks at the top.
these toothpic
ENGINEERING is a partnership of WGBH and National Engineers Week. National Engineers Week 2002 chairs: DuPont and the American Society
of Civil Engineers. ZOOM is produced by WGBH Boston. Funding for ZOOM is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and public television viewers. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
TM / © 2002 WGB H Educational Foundation
pbskids.org/zoom
Engineer’s Notebook
Gumdrop Dome
TM/© 2003 WGBH Educational Foundation.
My Prediction
What Happened
anted!
Engineers W for almost
en around
Domes have be
new
t there are still
2,000 years, bu
s, an
em. In the 1950
ways to build th
ller
Buckminster Fu
engineer named
e
H
.
gn
w dome desi
thought of a ne
of
sides. This kind
used triangular
e. A
a geodesic dom
dome is called
cause
me is strong be
o
d
c
si
e
d
o
e
g
fewer
les. It also uses
of all the triang
es that
other structur
materials than
e inside.
amount of spac
have the same
a dome
ller looked at
Fu
er
st
in
m
ck
Bu
er.
to make it bett
and saw a way
d think
ul
s like you co
Future engineer
ctures.
design old stru
of new ways to
OM !
Send It to ZOsults at
TM
re
Tell us about your
/sendit
om
zo
g/
pbskids.or