For you to do
You'll bridge a gap between two book stacks with one sheet of paper and see how many coins it holds. Then you'll redesign — folding, arching, rolling — to hold far more, with the same single sheet.
Grown-up help
All on your own.
The challenge
The rules (constraints)
Same gap, ONE sheet of paper, and only a little tape every time. Those fixed limits are your constraints — beat your old score without breaking them.
Set the books about 15 cm apart. Lay a flat sheet across as your first prototype and gently add coins until it sags. Record the number.
Redesign for strength
- Try folding the sheet into a fan (accordion) of ridges.
- Try an arch, or rolling tubes.
- Each new shape is an iteration — log the coins it held.
What's happening
A flat sheet bends because the force of the coins isn't spread out. Folds and arches turn that force into pushes along the paper, which it resists far better. The trade-off: a tall fan is strong but uses width you might need for the road. Engineers chase the best design inside fixed constraints — exactly what you just did.