Tower: Marshmallows and Toothpicks

The purpose of this project was to build a structure that could carry the maximum amount of weight.

The structure had to be built out of only toothpicks and marshmallows joints. The structure also had to be able to withstand certain amounts of weight.

My team decided to build a structure that was pyramid shaped. The structure had 9 pyramids on the bottom layer of the structure, and 4 pyramid structures as the top layer. We hoped that the weight of the weights the structure had to hold, would spread over the structure, and it would not collapse.

The most difficult aspect of working with marshmallow joints was that the marshmallows are very weak. The marshmallows are not able to hold big amounts of weight.

When creating the structure, we realized that there were not enough toothpicks to build the structure we had planned. So we took out a pyramid on the bottom and top layer. That was probably the reason the structure could not hold the weights. The issue was not with the structure collapsing or twisting, the mistake that was found was that the toothpicks in the middle, would disconnect from the marshmallows, and the structure would collapse in the center.

If I were to do this project again, I would make the structure smaller, because the issue we came upon was that we did not have enough toothpicks to complete our structure.

This project even though stressful, was very entertaining and eye-opening. I am very proud of what we accomplished in a short amount of time and with limited resources.