: OK, it's Science Fair Project time...........

: I've seen a couple tests one can do at home: 1) Bend strips of materials over
: an edge with increasing amounts of weight on the unsupported end
: (cantilevered beam) until breakage. I think the Gougeon Brothers did
: something like this a while back. Seems like a good test of rigidity and
: how far a material will bend before it breaks and how it breaks.

: 2) Support a panel on its edges somehow and drop increasingly sized weights
: until failure to simulate running into a hard object like a rock.

I think you can simulate the second type of failure witha test very much like the first one you propose if you simply change from having the sample hang over an edge to having it hang over a point. The "point" does not need to be something sharp, like a needle or a nail, but could be a marble.

The engineering competitions around me involve building bridges and then testing them by loading them with increasing weight until they fail. The method they use is simple, and you might want to try it. They hang an empty metal bucket from the bridge (you would hook one onto your sample). Then they fill the bucket with sand, pouring in the sand rather rapidly until they hear the thing make a creaking noise, which is usuallyu the first indicator that something is about to break. After that they trickle the sand in slowly until the object being tested fails completely. By attaching the bucket so it hangs only a few inches above the floor when the tested object give out, the bucket doesn't have far to fall, so little if any sand falls out. Then they just weigh the sand and bucket. For the next test they empty the bucket and reuse the sand as they start over.

If you find that your samples support an entire 5 gallon pail of sand, then you may have to get a few weights like those used for weightlifting. Probably need to add 25 to 50 pounds at least. Mayabe you can borrow them from the school. I'm sure the football team or wrestling team has some weight training equipment.

Hope this helps

PGJ