THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

Jelly lolly geodesic dome

Domes are strong because theyre made from lots of triangles. Explore how a triangle is the strongest shape. This activity is also a fun construction activity for younger children that can be eaten when completed!

Time: 20 minutes + Difficulty: Hints: This activity makes a fun party

game too. Remember to apply good food rules: eat, store and discard lollies when appropriate.

a jelly lolly and insert 1. Take 5 toothpicks around it to make a star shape.

a jelly lolly to each of 2. Add the 5 toothpick ends. The middle lolly will be the apex, or highest point of your dome. a new toothpick to join 3. Use two of the jelly lollies to make a triangle. Continue adding new toothpicks so that all lollies are joined to make a pentagon. 2 toothpicks and a jelly 4. Add lolly to make an equilateral triangle to each edge of the pentagon as shown. You will notice the shape now wants to curve. turn your structure 5. Gently over so the apex is on the underneath. Make 5 more equilateral triangle on the outer sides. The shape will pull inwards creating a dome. a toothpick into each 6. Push of the outer 5 lollies and join to remaining lolly in the centre to finish. Now try adding to and growing your construction.
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What you will need:

30 Toothpicks 12 firm jelly lollies

Alternative equipment no.1:

30 Toothpicks 12 mini marshmallows

Alternative equipment no.2:

30 skewers 12 foam balls

500 Harris St Ultimo Tel: 02 6217 0111 This work is licensed under the Creative POK346 Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 http://play.powerhousemuseum.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionPO Box Haymarket NSW 1238 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialAustralia Tel: 02 9217 0111 NonCommercial 3.0 Australia (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU) Australia ShareAlikeLicence 2.5 License.

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THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

Marshmallow geodesic dome

Page 2

2D - 2 dimensional Whats going on?

A geodesic dome is a spherelike structure composed of a complex network of triangles. A dome needs to support its own weight as well as rain, wind and other loads. A geodesic dome is very strong because triangles are very stable shapes. It is difficult to distort a triangle. This is because compression at one joint is balanced by tension along the opposite edge. The geodesic dome is made up of many triangles that distribute the loads over all of the triangles in its design. A 2D shape is flat and has both width and length. 2D shapes get their names from the number of edges they have. A 2D shape is called a regular polygon when all edges and angles are the same.

Regular polygons
3 edges triangle 4 edges square 5 edges pentagon 6 edges hexagon 8 edges octagon Note: A circle is not a polygon because it has no straight edges.

Glossary
Apex highest point. The apex is the highest point of anything such as a mountain or a pyramid. Face the flat surface of a 3 dimensional shape. Polygon - a polygon is a 2d shape with 3 or more straight edges and 3 or more angles. Poly means many and gon means corner. Regular polygons each edge has the same length and each angle is the same size. Equilateral triangle all edges of an equilateral triangle are of equal length, which makes it a regular polygon. Triangle a triangle is a polygon with 3 straight edges and 3 corners. Pentagon a pentagon is a shape that has 5 straight edges and 5 angles. Polyhedron a polyhedron is a 3 dimensional solid made up of a collection of polygons usually joined at the edges. Poly means many and hedron means seat.

3D - 3 dimensional
A 3D shape has width, height and depth. A 3D shape has faces, edges and vertices. A face is the flat surface, an edge is formed where 2 faces meet and a vertex is the point formed where 2 edges meet (like a corner).Some 3D shapes gain their names from the number of faces they have. You can create thousands of different polyhedrons by combining together different combinations of polygons. There are exactly 5 poly hedrons that exist that have the same number of faces meeting at each vertex. The faces are all the same ploygons as well. These are known as platonic solids. You may have seen them being used as dice.

Platonic solids

(Number of faces, ploygon face and its name) 4 faces triangle - trahedron 6 faces - square - cube (hexahedron) 8 faces triangle - octahedron 12 faces - pentagon - Dodecahedron 20 faces - triangle - Icosahedron
Creative Commons Licence for use of this work

500 Harris St Ultimo Tel: 02 6217 0111 This work is licensed under the Creative POK346 Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 http://play.powerhousemuseum.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionPO Box Haymarket NSW 1238 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialAustralia Tel: 02 9217 0111 NonCommercial 3.0 Australia (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU) Australia ShareAlikeLicence 2.5 License.

500 Harris st. Ultimo

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au/

THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

Marshmallow geodesic dome

Page 3

What else can i do?

Construct other 3D shapes.
You can create many different shapes. Using the guides below, try making a cube prism tetrahedron pyramid

Which of these shapes is the strongest? Record your observations below each example.

500 Harris St Ultimo Tel: 02 6217 0111 This work is licensed under the Creative POK346 Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 http://play.powerhousemuseum.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionPO Box Haymarket NSW 1238 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialAustralia Tel: 02 9217 0111 NonCommercial 3.0 Australia (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU) Australia ShareAlikeLicence 2.5 License.

500 Harris st. Ultimo

Creative Commons Licence for use of this work

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au/