ORONO – More than 40 Monmouth Academy students watched intently in a University of Maine engineering lab Wednesday morning as bridges designed and built by their classmates were destroyed.

One at a time, Bill Davids, UMaine associate professor of engineering, placed 21 bridges in a tension and compression machine capable of applying up to 10,000 pounds of force. The structures, made of spaghetti noodles and glue, weighed less than a pound.

Surrounded by students, Monmouth math teacher Jeff Gosselin stood in front of the machine, clipboard in hand, and recorded results. He was assisted by teachers David Heckman and Susan Small.

As the pressure increased, Davids and Heckman called out numbers: 500, 800, 1,000 pounds. The snap of breaking pasta slowly grew as small pieces of spaghetti broke off a structure, sometimes showering the bystanders.

Then would come failure, a sudden collapse with a crunch, with groans from some students, cheers from others.

In the end, students got a demonstration of why geometry matters and of the practical value of mathematics in evaluating the performance of a structure.

“The goal is to give them a chance to design something and learn about engineering,” Gosselin said. He and other Monmouth teachers have been conducting bridge-building projects since 1997 and have been going to UMaine since 2003.

The winning bridge, nicknamed “Senor Semolina” by its creators, Joe Gabri and Scott Turcotte, finally gave way at 8,421 pounds. Runners-up were Megan Buckley and Stephany Perkins (6,336 pounds), and Alisa Blundon and Zach MacKenzie (6,032 pounds).