Jaspreet Weekly Assignment #2
In the text, ‘Construction of Bridges’, the author Raymond Wong analyzed and shared his knowledge of the construction of bridges, and how it functions to serve civilization as whole. Wong, initially brings about the information of Bridges by correlating its aspects to the field of STEM which explicitly stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Although Wong did not state how people from different fields and knowledge cooperate with one another, Wong imply that the construction of massive bridges requires a lot of knowledge from people with different backgrounds in their profession. For example, it takes not only a civil engineer to construct a bridge, but an architect for the blueprint as well as electricians to install lights in the bridge. Moreover, Wong provided visual diagrams of bridges and different types of bridges. There are bridges with suspensions which bears the weight and extend beneath the bridge itself. There are also beam bridges and arch bridges differing in all shapes and sizes. Wong furthermore provided where certain types of bridges stand in the world. From his text, we can see a balanced cantilever bridge for viaduct of West Rail at Au Tau Interchange. Many third world countries are now expanding on their knowledge of STEM allowing their society to build fascinating structures like bridges as bridges serve to show a conjunction of unity not only through practical uses but metaphorically as well. From the picture provided in the text, we can pinpoint the span for the cantilever bridge expands from 50m to 300m. In perspective, an average adult male stands merely at 1.8m! As civilization throughout the world expands, the education push for STEM will grow.