Air Is Matter

This collection of still images presents different ways to visualize air, from billowing sails to windblown hair to tornadoes.

Air Power: Making a Hovercraft

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.

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Arch Bridge

This video segment adapted from Building Big illustrates the strength of the arch in bridge design and construction.

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The Bridge Challenge

In this interactive activity from the Building Big Web site, use your knowledge of bridge design to match the right bridge to the right location in a fictitious city.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

This video segment from Building Big illustrates the basic design principles of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England.

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Columns: Experimenting with Balloons

Watch the ZOOM cast find out how many balloons filled with air and then with water are required to support the weight of a cast member.

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Columns: Experimenting with Paper Cups

In this video segment from ZOOM, the cast experiments to see if a bunch of paper cups covered by a piece of cardboard can support the weight of a cast member.

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Columns: Finding the Strongest Shape

In this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment by bending and folding sheets of paper into various shapes to see which shape will support the weight of a heavy book.

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Columns: Hillary's Neighborhood

In this video segment from ZOOM, Hillary, from Randolph, MA, takes us on a tour of the columns in her neighborhood.

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The Dam Challenge

In this interactive activity from the Building Big Web site, investigate dams in distress and decide if they should be repaired, removed, or left alone.

Designing a Paper Bridge

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make a bridge from a single piece of paper. Will it be strong enough to hold a hundred pennies?

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Designing the Citigroup Skyscraper

This video segment adapted from Thinking Big, Building Small shows how a structural engineer overcame the challenge of building New York's Citigroup skyscraper over a church.

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Design Squad: Suspension Bridge

In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression to build a suspension bridge without the aid of power tools.

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Design Squad: Truss Bridge

In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression as they build a truss bridge without the aid of power tools.

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The Dome Challenge

In this interactive activity from the Building Big Web site, think like an engineer and use your knowledge of dome design to match the right type of dome to the right location in a fictitious city.

Firth of Forth Cantilever Bridge

This video segment from Building Big: "Bridges" demonstrates the basic design of a cantilever bridge by looking at Scotland's Firth of Forth Railway Bridge.

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Forces Lab

In this interactive activity from the Building Big Web site, select one of the actions of squeezing, stretching, bending, sliding, or twisting to explore the forces of compression, tension, shear, and torsion.

Hoover Dam

This video segment from Building Big: "Dams," demonstrates the basic principals at work in the Hoover Dam, a concrete gravity dam that also makes use of the properties of the arch.

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Investigating a Suspension Bridge

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast builds a suspension bridge from a couple of chairs, some cardboard, and rope.

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It's Cool to Be a Civil Engineer

Who decides how massive structures like skyscrapers are made? This video segment adapted from Thinking Big, Building Small showcases the job of a civil engineer.

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