truss no one

I couldn’t help thinking of my students when I read today’s dVerse prompt, “Poetics: build a bridge”.  I tell them truss analysis is just like Sudoku but more fun – just lay out your equations, fill in the gaps, and truss me, that’s all there is to it! Until the build and test, that is. 

Every member – tension or compression?
Every joint – apply Newton’s second.
Have you considered load distribution?
What external forces make a contribution?

~put theory into practice~

Embody your equations in concrete and steel,
Now do the forces balance, for real?
Have you proved yourself a truss design master?
Or will your bridge feature on Engineering Disasters?

 

righting the writing

Thanks to the Mouse for the title to this one.  And to no specific student or colleague for the rest.  

I’m righting the writing,
un-verbing the nouns,
untangling the syntax
so meaning is found.

The love song of the empty red marking pen

I didn’t think I’d be writing anything this week, because I have all the end of semester marking to do and very limited time. But I couldn’t resist having a quick look to see what Eugi’s prompt was when I knocked off for the night – and then couldn’t resist when I saw it was “everlasting“. So here is my response; a homage to Eliot and a cry for help… well, marking support anyway…

Forces By Demons (FBDs)

A follow-up to Friction does not oppose motion, for Shruba and the Twisted Mouse:

Forces by demons,
and by engine elves,
and forces of motion
belong on same shelves.

Friction does not oppose motion!

You can’t, of course
walk or drive, with
no friction force.
Please tell your kith
and tell your kin:
You can’t begin
without friction.

cautionary example

or “mechanical disadvantage”:

Alas poor Spidey, poor Spidey is dead!
She’s hunted her last, and now she is spread
flat as a pancake, behind the door.
She made a mistake, and now she’s no more.

F=ma (is over-rated)

Newton’s second
is all they know –