COMMACK SCHOOLS

Thomas Shea’s principles of engineering students had most of the top-10 finishers in a Long Island bridge-building competition hosted by Brookhaven National Laboratory on Friday.

Competing with more than 200 students and 10 other high schools, the student-designed basswood bridges entered by CHS fared well as contest officials applied mechanical pressure to the structures.

CHS’ Vincent D. finished second overall. His bridge model was able to support 1,971 times its 13-gram weight. He was inivited to compete in an international competition in Chicago on April 26.

Commack’s Josh K. finished third (1,794), followed by Joseph K. fourth (1,757), Alexander O. fifth (1,640) and Jacob G. sixth (1,627).

Additionally, CHS’ Jordan G. won the award for the bridge with the best aesthetics.

The construction and testing of model bridges promotes the study and application of principles of physics and engineering, and it helps students develop hands-on skills. By participating, students gain insight into what it is to be an engineer — designing structures to a set of specifications and testing their functionality.

The model bridges, which weigh no more than 25 grams, are intended to be simplified versions of real-world bridges, which are designed to accept load in any position and permit the load to travel across the entire bridge.