Penny Loaded Paper Project
The penny loaded paper project was for my Introduction to MEMS course. The objective was to support
as many pennies as possible 30 cm over a table top using only one 8.5"x11" sheet of contiguous 20# paper,
and 30 cm of 1/2" wide scotch tape. The paper was allowed to be taped to the table top.
My project partner was James Porter, an undergrad working in
the IML. Below is a picture of us with our entry "The Virus." Our entry held 160 pennies in our
first trial, but failed at 115 during the competition. We called it the virus due to the long
support tethers that looked like legs, and the large head. Our concept was a large central colums,
with three support tethers to keep it from tipping over. To obtain the necessary height (and to
provide a platform to support the pennies), we topped the project with a thick honeycomb structure.
You can look at a flat layout of our project here.
The purpose of the assignment was to show us that interesting structures can be made from thin films.
