[LeRoux Strydom]

Actually, a school assignment for my 7th grade (13yr old) daughter. I'm feeling dumb just thinking about it.........

She has to build a structure not less than 1m tall (39 inches) with only 30 drinking straws each about 20 cm or 8 inches long, capable of holding a full 2-liter (2 quarts) plastic coke bottle on the top (weight should be 2 kg or 4.4 lbs). The connectors can be anything, she already thought of triangular folded/glued bits of carton that can hold 3 or 4 straw ends together.

I know I could eventually figure it out, but I'm lazy. Can anyone point me into the optimal solution or offer any suggestions from which we can work? I'll try to impart the lesson to my daughter, as I think the logical reasoning transferred to her is worth more than the credits for the assignment.

I'll google around, but is anyone up for some lateral thinking on structures? cegerer?

LeRoux