How Strong is a Piece of Paper?

We made a simple experiment using papers and books. This is a great way to explain to my children whenever they asked me "Why the tree trunk is circle in shape?"or "Why aren't they square?". I also prepared them with science report sheet. (Should you interested, you may e-mail me for free Word version.)

In this experiment, we tested the strength of the paper based on it's shape, by piling books on top. They were agitated while piling the books, hoping that the paper can hold more. Once the paper collapsed, they were so thrilled they laughed their brains out. 

Try this easy STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activity today!Have fun collapsing the paper columns!

What you'll need:

 Regular copy paper (not card stock)

Books 

Tape 

 1. Fold the paper into four shapes: triangle, square, pentagon and circle. Secure with tape.

 2. Slowly pile the books on each shape. 

 3. Count the books while piling.

 4. Report the experiment. 

 Don't forget to treat each child with different method. I taught Iyra to draw the shapes. She's 4 years and 2 months.

 "The peper fol." I like it. What a genuine scientist!

Obviously circle paper column is the strongest!

The report sheet

And they asked why circle paper column is the strongest? These are the best and age appropriate explanation to the girls (thank you creeksidelearning):

• The circle (the right word is cylinder) can support most books because it's walls don't have any edges.
• The force of the books cannot become concentrated in a particular area. I explained it in more animated version like "You know these books have weight and force. The weight and the force then transferred into the paper when we pile it on top. Since they were put on the circle, they happily holding hands and running down together to the base (which was the table). Both the weight and the force happily saying to each other 'There are no edges for us to play and gather! This circle is so smooth we can slide easily! Yay!'." Pardon me if this is not right, well, my audiences were so young they aren't ready for velocity and acceleration vectors.
• The square, triangle and pentagon deform more easily. They shift the weight of the books to their edges and corners, which deforms their walls and leads to a quick collapse. My animated explanation for other shapes was "The weight and the force of this book now going down the pentagon. They were happily holding hands and running together to the base and said to each other, 'Look! They are edges! Five of them! Let's play and gather here!' They were only interested with the edges they forget the faces! Now they were so many of them gathered and concentrated on one place, making them collapsed. (But please be ever ready with the question of "Oh my! What are those weight and force? Do they have eyes like us?")

Applications in real life:

• Electric poles. What happens if they are square? The strong wind will easily make them collapse.
• Building structures, like Nek Ma's neighbor. He used cylindrical pillars to hold his super big garage! 
• Water dispenser. 
• Earth. (Iris came with this application. She then said "The world is gonna end real real real real soon if Allah created a square (cubic) Earth. We are the books!")

Till then.