Roman Arch STEM Box - Amazingly Easy to Build yet Very Strong!

Most people have heard of the famous "Roman Arch." You can see them in great architecture such as the Colosseum in Rome and bridges and other vital infrastructure around the world. For most people in Canada, however, they are something foreign and ancient. Ask the average person in North America: "Have you ever built a Roman Arch"? The answer for virtually all of us is no.

With this STEM Box, we aim to change that. Stop missing out. Build your own Arch!  We supply everything you need. It's remarkably easy to do with the materials supplied in this STEM Box:

(1) Correctly shaped and pre-made "voussoirs" (stones) (plus we add two extra for a total of 11)*;

(2) A simple, pre-assembled wooden frame that provides abutments on both sides to support the arch;

(3) A centring - in the form of 2 quarter-circles (the temporary structure upon which you lay the stones of the arch during construction); and

(4) An informative and proprietary S.T.E.M. Store of Canada information sheet that provides step-by-step instructions and additional background information on arches and how they work.

We make all of these STEM Boxes by hand in Canada and perform quality checks on each one to ensure that they assemble easily and accurately.  We have used very safe materials in preparing these STEM Boxes (wood, school-safe glue, etc.).

Recommended for Age 5 & Up (with adult supervision).

Notes:
(1) The stones included with this STEM Box are all identical. Any one of these stones may function as the famous “Keystone” (being the final piece placed during construction that locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight)!

(2) The Loonie coin (not included with the STEM Box) is displayed in some of the pictures to give you a sense of the size of the Arch.

(3) We tried placing a 15-pound weight on top the arch - it held it up no problem (you can see there was no cheating involved)! Can you do the same? Maybe you can achieve even more weight?

For an excellent overview of how arches work, check out this YouTube video: