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Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps most famous for the Mona Lisa, but as well as being an incredible artist he was also a scientist, inventor and mathematician.

Leonardo lived during the Renaissance which was a very exciting time period for science and art. It was an extraordinary period in history. The Renaissance spanned the 14th to 17th century in Europe and was a period of great social change as well as an explosion of art, science, music and knowledge in general. Renaissance means "rebirth" and is the period in between the Middle Ages and Modern Times.

As well as his many other inventions Leonardo designed different types of bridges. Some were very simple such as his self supporting bridge and others were more complex. One design to span across the Golden Horn in Istanbul wasn't built at the time, but the same design was used to build a footbridge in Norway! How incredible that a bridge design from 1502 was used to build a bridge in 2001.

Leonardo da Vinci's Self-Supporting Bridge

Leonardo's simplest bridge idea was arguably the most ingenious. The actual design was for logs with notches cut into them, but we managed to build some without the notches in the same way.

The type of bridge doesn't need fastening together and if built to Leonardo's design gets stronger the more weight is added.

Craft Stick Self-Supporting Bridge

This was a bit fiddly and took a couple of attempts but was worth the effort. I found it easiest to build from each side and then connect the middle, but if that doesn't work for you try building from one end to the other.

Leonardo da Vinci's self-supporting bridge made from garden canes

We made this one in exactly the same way, just using garden canes.

More Leonardo da Vinci Activity Ideas

Leonardo da Vinci wrote backwards in some of his journals. If you use a mirror you can write backwards too!

Mirror writing using a mirror

More Bridge Ideas for Kids

Try this simple bridge building engineering task using paper.

Bridge Building Engineering Task

We really enjoyed building this bridge with string and craft sticks.

String Bridge

Our bridge for The Gingerbread Man was great fun too!

Last Updated on April 28, 2022 by Emma Vanstone

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Leonardo da Vinci's Self-Supporting Bridge - Renaissance Scientists

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Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps most famous for the Mona Lisa , but as well as being an incredible artist he was also a scientist, inventor and mathematician. Leonardo lived during the Renaissance which was a very exciting time period for science and art. It was an extraordinary period in history.

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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Apparatus, Procedure and Thinking Questions

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- You must be responsible for the equipment and materials you use.
- Clean all equipment and return to its correct place.
- If conducting experiments before school, all equipment must be tidied by 7:55am

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You must follow the rules of the lab.
- No running.
- No shouting.
- Share resources respectfully
- Make sure the area is clear of bags, chairs and other obstacles before starting.

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You must add the following to the Padlet wall...
- Pictures or videos of your experiment
- Answers or suggestions to one or more of the Thinking Questions

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Can you identify any examples of bridges in the real world that have similar designs or principles to the Da Vinci bridge?

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What forces act on the bridge when weight is added to it, and how does the bridge distribute those forces?

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Sabina,jake and lynn Sze  with one stick 

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Sabina,jake and lynn Sze  with one stick 

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The force behind the davinci is using a self lock method using  compression(a force known as that acts towards compress or shorten the force on what it is acting on).