{"id":553,"date":"2019-07-18T18:16:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T01:16:29","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T18:22:49","slug":"553","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/553","title":{"rendered":"Can I use your equipment for a bridge-building contest?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. The <a href=\"\/product\/go-direct-structures-and-materials-tester\/\">Go Direct<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Structures &amp; Materials Tester<\/a> (<nobr>GDX-VSMT<\/nobr>) was specifically designed to be used in bridge-building competitions. It has a 1000-N force sensor\/load cell and also measures displacement of the structure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also have software developed specifically to run competitions. You can download the Go Direct\u00ae\u00a0Bridge Competition Software at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/downloads\/godirect-bridge-competition-software\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/downloads\/godirect-bridge-competition-software\/\">https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/downloads\/godirect-bridge-competition-software\/<\/a><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also take a &#8220;do-it-yourself&#8221; approach using our <a href=\"\/product\/force-plate\/\">Force Plate<\/a> (<nobr>FP-BTA<\/nobr>) or <a href=\"\/product\/go-direct-force-plate\/\">Go Direct<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Force Plate<\/a> (<nobr>GDX-FP<\/nobr>), which measure forces up to 3500 N (787 lbs). To use a Force Plate to test the bridges in a normal orientation with the force applied downward, build a U-shaped platform that will rest on the Force Plate so that the &#8220;legs&#8221; of the platform support the ends of the bridges.&nbsp; You can zero the sensor with the bridge in place on the platform so that you measure the amount of force you load on the top of the bridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regardless of the sensor you use, you can do all of the following with our data-collection software:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Plot graphs of force <i>vs<\/i>. time as the force is applied.<\/li>\n<li>Determine the maximum breaking force.<\/li>\n<li>Save and print out results for contestants to show to friends and family.<\/li>\n<li>With <a href=\"\/product\/graphical-analysis\/\">Vernier Graphical Analysis<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Pro<\/a> (<nobr>GAP-1YR<\/nobr>), if you record a movie of the bridge testing, you can replay the movie synced with the graph of force <i>vs<\/i>. time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RELATED TILS<br \/><a href=\"\/til\/4505\/\">Go Direct Structures &amp; Materials Tester (GDX-VSMT) Troubleshooting and FAQs<\/a><br \/><a href=\"\/til\/1416\/\">Force Plate Troubleshooting and FAQs<\/a><br \/><a href=\"\/til\/18853\/\">Go Direct Force Plate Troubleshooting and FAQs<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes. The was specifically designed to be used in bridge-building competitions. It has a 1000-N force sensor\/load cell and also measures displacement of the structure&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[456,458,457,462,461,459,465,464,463,460],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bridge","tag-bridge-building","tag-building","tag-force","tag-force-plate","tag-fp-bta","tag-material","tag-structure","tag-tester","tag-vsmt"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}