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Students demonstrate concrete's lighter side
Monday, April 05, 2004 | 1 comment(s)
KLAMATH FALLS (AP) - Concrete isn't supposed to fly very far, but it didn't do badly this weekend at a concrete Frisbee contest at a conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers at the Oregon Institute of Technology.
And concrete canoes floated across Upper Klamath Lake Saturday during the conference that drew about 300 undergraduate students from 17 western colleges and universities.
Students used a variety of concrete mixes and microscopic glass beads and foam pebbles to make it all happen.
"It was just really trial and error," said Mike Goff, one of the throwers on the OIT concrete Frisbee team.
The team was made up of freshman who had developed about 20 different concrete Frisbee prototypes in a civil engineering class.
The final product was a blue disc that looked like an oversized clay pigeon and won with a toss of 137 feet by Nick Bakke, who also is a champion javelin thrower and a civil engineering student at OIT.
The discs had to be between 1 and 2 inches high and 8 to 12 inches in diameter. There was no limit on weight.
Harriet Cornachione, an OIT associate professor, said there have been concrete bowling ball competitions before, but organizers went to Frisbees this year to "do something a little different."
The conference's flagship event, the concrete canoe competition, took sail Saturday.
Canoes were required to stay afloat even when full of water.
The key to that is what you put into the concrete mix, said Skylar Brower, a Portland State University engineering student.
Some teams used foam and microscopic glass beads to lighten the concrete mix.
Mark Moser, one of the paddler's on OIT's canoe team, said their concrete canoe weighed in at 300 pounds.
A common Kevlar canoe weighs about 80 pounds.
"It's not like you throw them on the roof of your car and go canoeing," Moser said.
And concrete canoes floated across Upper Klamath Lake Saturday during the conference that drew about 300 undergraduate students from 17 western colleges and universities.
Students used a variety of concrete mixes and microscopic glass beads and foam pebbles to make it all happen.
"It was just really trial and error," said Mike Goff, one of the throwers on the OIT concrete Frisbee team.
The team was made up of freshman who had developed about 20 different concrete Frisbee prototypes in a civil engineering class.
The final product was a blue disc that looked like an oversized clay pigeon and won with a toss of 137 feet by Nick Bakke, who also is a champion javelin thrower and a civil engineering student at OIT.
The discs had to be between 1 and 2 inches high and 8 to 12 inches in diameter. There was no limit on weight.
Harriet Cornachione, an OIT associate professor, said there have been concrete bowling ball competitions before, but organizers went to Frisbees this year to "do something a little different."
The conference's flagship event, the concrete canoe competition, took sail Saturday.
Canoes were required to stay afloat even when full of water.
The key to that is what you put into the concrete mix, said Skylar Brower, a Portland State University engineering student.
Some teams used foam and microscopic glass beads to lighten the concrete mix.
Mark Moser, one of the paddler's on OIT's canoe team, said their concrete canoe weighed in at 300 pounds.
A common Kevlar canoe weighs about 80 pounds.
"It's not like you throw them on the roof of your car and go canoeing," Moser said.
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