UBC Undergraduate Research

Evaluating the strength and stretch of Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) Schellenberg, Tegan; Hammond, Keely

Abstract

Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) vines were supposedly used to build suspension bridges by indigenous groups in British Columbia (Turner, 1990; Moerman, 1998). To verify the possibility of this claim, we measured the strength and stretch of Orange Honeysuckle vines. The strength was measured until breaking point for various vine diameters, and the stretch was measured at known intervals of mass addition up to 6.2 kg. From the stretch measurements, the Young’s modulus was determined and found to be smaller than that of conventional building materials. Overall, the strength and stretch found would be sufficient for the construction of suspension bridges based on the well-documented bridge-building method of the Incas of South America.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International