Galloping Gertie

When the original Tacoma Narrows bridge was built in 1940, its design inadvertently caused it to resonate with the wind gusts through the Narrows. The bridge had a tendency to sway in the wind, which earned it the nickname "Galloping Gertie." The ultimate fate of this constant swaying is dramatically illustrated in the following newsreel.



The bridge even made an appearance in an advertisement for Pioneer speakers in the '90s.

Homemade Silly Putty

Several people have asked for it, so here's a link to a good recipe for homemade Silly Putty. A simple web search yields several recipes that suggest using liquid starch, but the resulting goo is pretty nasty stuff. This recipe uses Borax, which works considerably better. The recipe is from Steve Spangler Science, a site filled with some really cool, hands-on experiments.

Trebuchet Information

There are some interesting trebuchet videos available on YouTube:

• Profile of Hew Kennedy (you should recognize him from the Nova special)
• Japanese Human Trebuchet
• Volkswagon GTI Commercial

If you are interested in making your own, here are plans for a popsicle stick trebuchet.

Finally, here are a few trebuchet related links:

• The Grey Company Trebuchet Page
• Trebuchet.com

Enjoy!