TWO teams of sixth formers from Mount House entered the Schools' Structural Engineering competition held at Exeter University.

The six boys and six girls were able to compete as Mount House teams to take on the challenge of designing a bridge to span a one-metre gap, capable of carrying a load of two kilograms at centre-span without deflecting more than 20mm. The structure was made of paper tubes and had to be as lightweight as possible.

As well as learning about structures, the children learned the importance of teamwork and quality control. After a brief set of guidance and instructions, the boys and girls set to work to come up with the best design, and then to construct and test it.

The Mount House boys' team — Oscar Mustard, Jack Barrett, Henry Newman, Ben d'Entrecasteaux, Guy Harrison and Julian Huntington — came up with the winning design.

Their bridge successfully supported the two kilos load, and weighed in at only 285 grams, compared with the average weight of 600-plus grams for the designs submitted by the other schools.

After lunch, all of the children were taken on a tour of the university engineering department, starting in the 3D computer visualisation studio.

The sixth formers saw how the university used 3D viewing to develop new product ideas before making hard copies.

The pupils then went on to see the hydro fluids testing area as well as the wind tunnel aerodynamics suite where they experienced the force of a 600 mph wind.