Our Engineering trip began with a stop at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Building of Aero Space engineering where we saw rocket engines, planes, and a moon rock. We went into the wind tunnel. It was a bit intimidating at first, walking down the dark tunnel but once our eyes adjusted if was fascinating to be in the giant tunnel.
Then we hiked across the street and saw a "clean room" where engineers do experiments with such small materials that even a fleck of dust can ruin the results. A man showed us the special gear people wear to work in the room to keep it dust free. They cover their body from head to toe to keep the "clean room" clean. Down the hall we looked through a window at a huge room that can move to simulate an earthquake.
The grand finale was a trip to a classroom where female engineering students worked with the children on their own engineering experiment. The children used toothpicks and gumdrops to make bridges. Then they tested how strong their bridges were by suspending the bridge between two chairs, hanging a cup from the bridge, and adding marbles to the cup until the bridge collapsed. (As I mentioned in the email, my photos of the bridge construction were lost when my old computer died.)
Thank you to Christine, Emma's mom, for helping set up this trip and joining us on our tour, Jim, Quinn's father, for helping with chaperoning, and the Women of Engineering for the engineering class.
