Triangle Tuesday!

Why do engineers put triangles in everything? Let's get after it. The square looks really strong, but watch what happens. The boards didn't bend, they didn't get longer, they didn't get shorter. The only thing that changed was the angle at the corners. Because a square can change shape by rotating on the corners. That's why it's not very rigid. But let's add one board in here and change that. Now, just by adding one board, we created two triangles. Now, if this shape wants to move like it did before, this diagonal has to get longer or shorter. And wood doesn't like stretching or shrinking. And that's why a triangle is so special. Because a triangle can't change shape unless one of the sides changes length. When weight is applied on the top, these two sides go in compression and this bottom one goes into tension. And that's why engineers use triangles in just about anything. Cranes, roof trusses, bridges, whatever the case is, the triangle is one of the simplest and strongest shapes there is. Anyways, that's it for triangle Tuesday. I got stuff to do. I'm out of here. Peace.