Engineering Feats of the Ancient World and the Potomac School

In Engineering Design, a Fall senior elective, students have been studying ancient engineering feats of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In our exploration of Roman engineering we studied some of the greatest wonders of the ancient world such as the aqueducts, the Pantheon, the Coliseum, and the Circus Maximus, and we reflected on the Roman engineer's perfection of the arch, vault, and dome.

To cap off our unit on Rome's military engineering, students were challenged by their "Emperor" to build a prototype of their own ballista siege engine. Click More to read about their project.

There were weight, size, and material constraints to their designs that had to fire a marshmallow projectile at a "city wall" of stacked cups. In this challenge, accuracy was more important than power as the projectile had to hit the target at three ranges: three meters, five meters, and seven meters, and each team had only three shots at each range to prove the worth of their design. Each team did a fine job and most managed to refrain from eating the projectiles.

The class will now begin a study of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, aeronautical and aerospace engineering, renewable engineering, and nanotech engineering that will incorporate other projects such as model bridge design, load and vibration testing earthquake towers, rocket design, and solar car construction.