TALLEST TOWER CHALLENGE

Submitted: April 1, 2021 
Tower Testing: April 19, 2021 
Design Report submission: April 23, 2021 
Group Presentation: April 26, 2021 

Objective
Use limited materials to build a tower that is as tall as possible and can hold a heavy weight at the top.

Introduction
Throughout the world, engineers have designed a wide variety of observation towers in different shapes
and sizes (Figure 1). Unlike regular buildings and skyscrapers, which typically have rooms (offices,
apartments, etc.) on every floor, observation towers may have a mostly "hollow" structure with an
observation deck on top. Other similar structures that have a hollow frame with a heavy load at the top
can include water towers and radio towers (Figure 2).

This Challenge is inspired by towers like those in Figures 1 and 2. As shown in the following video, your
goal is to build the tallest possible tower using only paper and tape, but the tower must also support a can
of food at the top.
 

You can use this project to explore several topics in physics and engineering. Rather than explain each
topic in detail, this Background section will give you a brief overview, and you can do more research on
your own or use the links in the Bibliography.

 Beams are long, skinny elements used to make many structures like towers and bridges. Multiple
beams can be combined to make trusses. Certain truss shapes can be very strong. Can you
identify any trusses in Figures 1 and 2?
 An object that is being "squished" is in compression and an object that is being pulled on is
in tension. Beams can be in either tension or compression, depending on how a tower is
designed.
 Sometimes towers include ropes, cables, or chains as part of the design. These parts can only be
in tension (think about what happens if you try to "push" a rope), but they can still be useful. For
example, the long cables connected to the top of the radio towers in Figure; 2 are called guy
wires. They are anchored to the ground and prevent the tall, skinny towers from falling over.
 The shape of a beam can dramatically affect its strength. For example, it is very easy to bend a
flat piece of paper. It becomes much harder to bend the paper if you fold it in half multiple times
or roll it into a tube. This resistance to bending is determined by the beam's cross section. For
example, the cross section of a flat piece of paper is a (very thin) rectangle. This rectangle bends
very easily in the thin direction. The cross section of a piece of paper rolled into a tube is a circle.
An I-beam (where the cross section looks like a capital letter I) is a common shape used in many
structures.

You can also use this project to demonstrate the engineering design process. It is unlikely that your tower
will work perfectly on the first try—it might even collapse! You might need to iterate by testing and
tweaking your design multiple times so you can continually improve it.
Terms and Concepts
 Beam
 Truss
 Compression
 Tension
 Guy wire
 Cross section
 I-beam
 Engineering design process
 Iterate

Questions

 What are some examples of tall towers throughout the world? How do these towers stay standing
without falling over, even though they are very tall and skinny?
 How can you build a tower if the only materials you have available are paper and tape? What
overall design would you choose for the tower? What would you do to the individual pieces of
paper?
 How can you make sure that your tower can support not only its own weight, but the added
weight of a can of food?

Bibliography
 Lamb, R. and Morrissey, M. (n.d.). Tension and Compression: Two Forces Every Bridge Knows
Well. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
 PBS, (n.d.). Mini-Activity: Toothpick Truss. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
 Science Buddies Staff. (n.d.). The Engineering Design Process. Retrieved October 14, 2020.

Materials and Equipment

 Construction materials
o Paper (maximum 30 sheets). Printer, construction, graph, and notebook paper are
allowed (letter or A4 size; 9" x 12" or 22 x 30-cm construction paper also allowed).
Cardstock and newspaper are not allowed.
o Tape (maximum one roll), maximum 1" (2.5 cm) wide. Clear office tape (e.g. Scotch®),
masking, and painter's tape are allowed. Double-sided tape, duct tape, and packing tape
are not allowed.
o Hard, smooth surface, such as table or countertop

 Tools
o Scissors
o Ruler
o Pencil
o Metric tape measure or meterstick
o Stopwatch

 Unopened can of food, 14–16 oz or 400–450 g. Glass jars are not allowed for safety reasons
(they could shatter if they fall off your tower).
Experimental Procedure
The objective of the Challenge is to build a paper tower that is as tall as possible and can support a can
of food at the top. Figure 3 shows several examples. If you have not already done so, watch the video
(ENGVLE) for an overview of the challenge before you proceed.

Rules 

1. The tower can only be built from paper and tape. See the materials list for allowable types of
paper and tape. Tools cannot be used as structural elements of the tower.
2. You cannot use more than 30 pieces of paper.
3. Each Sheet of paper attracts a cost of $1000.
4. Material cost is not prorated. If you cut a sheet of paper in half and only use half the sheet, it still
counts as a whole sheet.
5. You cannot use more than one roll of tape.
6. The bottom of the tower can only be taped to the horizontal surface that it rests on (floor, table,
etc.). It cannot be taped to anything else (like the vertical leg of a table or a wall) or supported by
a person.
7. You are allowed to fold, bend, roll, cut, etc. the pieces of paper.
8. For scoring purposes, 1 piece of paper is 1 sheet of paper.
9. The tower must support one can of food (14–16 oz or 400–500 g) for at least 1 minute without
collapsing. You cannot touch, modify, or repair the tower during this minute.
10. The can must rest freely on the tower and be removable. It cannot be taped to the tower.

 
 

Outputs 
1. You are required to produce a Design Report for your tower with the following headings (20%)  

Report Headings 
 Title 
 Executive Summary 
 Design Objectives 
 Design Assumptions, limitations, and specifications 
 Design Summary 
 Alternative Designs 
 Economic Analysis  
 Conclusions & Recommendations 
 References 
 Appendix 

2. Group presentation of Design Report (10%)  ‐ 15 mins