Earthquake Proof Building Challenge

This is our second shake test of our Earthquake Proof Building Project, with a rubber stopper and two tiles on each floor.


Our building passed the first test-very closely, but failed the second one after surviving 53 seconds- a rubber stopper fell out!!
The building did worse than we predicted, because we thought our building would be very stable, as we used a lot of earthquake proof building strategies, like a center beam, and cross bracing. The walls were something that we did not pay much attention to, and we didn't think that the gaps in between walls would be the main reason that our building did not pass the second challenge. Another factor that was a weak point was that the skewers that we used for cross bracing were not enough to support each floor and make it stay straight, so some floors were crooked-as you can see in the video, which made the objects slide to one side of the floor, and eventually fall out.
If we had to rebuild our building, firstly, I would make sure to have no gaps between the walls and to cover all the little corners. Secondly, I would probably use something more stable, like popsicle sticks for the cross bracing, because on our second try of the second challenge, a skewer fastened to the bottom-foam board, fell out, causing the entire building to tilt, and it would be more suitable for straightening the floors, rather than skewers that easily bend. Lastly, I would have made sure again that everything was secure, so that something like a skewer falling out wouldn't happen.
In this challenge there were some limiting factors, such as; tight budget, limited variety of supplies, short time, and building rules. I think biggest limiting factors to the success of our building were the tight budget and the lack of time. If we had more money, we could have better secured our building's foundations using tape, which we could not afford by the end. Also, with more time, we would have been more thorough in researching more earthquake proof building ideas, and would have been able to try out and experiment different designs. Our building would also have been more well structures as we would not have rushed so much.
 These limiting factors can be connected to real life situations. Countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Nicaragua and Philippines are quite earthquake prone, but some buildings are not so well built, and this is due to the limiting factors. For example, some regions of these countries are not that rich, so money would be very limited. Also, not a lot of time might be granted, because of a rising population, and there could be a lack of experienced architects and engineers. These problems could possibly be overcome by the government taking action and hiring experienced architects from other countries, and maybe getting aid from other countries for supplies, and design ideas.