ROGERS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) – A Providence Academy science student created a bridge out of 160 popsicle sticks that held 1,170 pounds.

Tozer Patton broke the school record for bridge-building. Providence’s AP Science teacher, Chelsea Morton, challenged her 8th grade class to build a 20-inch bridge spanning 14-inches using only popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue. 

Patton built his first test bridge that held his neighbor’s weights, four car tires, and a 10-year-old boy, before maxing out the bridge at 765 pounds.

Patton built his second bridge to hold more than three times the weight of any other bridge in the school’s history. The school record is 380 pounds.

He said he thinks the triangular truss bridge design was key to his success. 

When the final project was due, Morton went used the school’s gym weights which were not enough to break the structure. That evening, he went back to his local gym and he used all 26 of the gym’s 45-pound weights.

The bridge finally collapsed under 1,170 pounds, and the half-pound bridge held over 2,000 times its weight.