World's Longest Straw Chain
On
Friday, December 16, 2005, students at Eisenhower Junior High School (EJHS) in
Taylorsville, Utah, set a new world record for the Longest Straw Chain. According
to Guinness World Records,
the previous world record for the Longest Straw Chain was 3.87 miles long and
was held by a school in Bridgehampton, New York. However, after school was over
on December 16, 2005, 133 ninth grade students at EJHS successfully connected
42,963 standard drinking straws to produce a continuous straw chain that measured
4.5770 miles (or 24,166.8 feet) in length. The record took eight hours to achieve,
used thousands of red colored jumbo-sized 7-3/4" drinking straws and hundreds
of red-lined flexible drinking straws.
To produce
the world's Longest Straw Chain--or Mega Straw Chain--students used a unique
design system that utilized 18 two-by-four boards which were dotted with medium-sized
nails separated one-inch apart. They then connected hundreds of lines of straight
straws to numerous flexible straws that allowed the straw chain to wrap around
the nails on the boards. (Eisenhower's Longest Straw Chain was constructed in
accordance with rules established by Guinness
World Records, which were: 1) [The Straw Chain must use] standard drinking
straws, made from plastic or similar [materials]; 2) There is no limit to either
the time taken for the attempt nor the number of participants; 3) A count of the
number of straws used must be taken. This is essential and must be done efficiently;
4) The chain is made by joining individual straws together. Each drinking straw
must be joined to its neighbour on either side by inserting it in the end of those
next to it in the line; 5) The entire chain of joined straws must be measured
accurately along the length of the chain. Measurements will not be accepted which
multiply the length of the straws used by the number of straws used, as if joined
in the required fashion, this will not be accurate. All joins in the chain must
be inspected by the witness[es]--claims will not be accepted for chains in which
there are broken or incomplete links.)
All student
participants donated $10 each towards this after-school project, which paid for
all the straws, event logo T-shirts, and food and drinks. Ramrock Construction
contributed all the building supplies used to make the unique design system that
supported the straw chain.
Many Eisenhower
teachers and staff members supported the students in this record attempt, including
the following adults who helped direct and guide the students during the actual
event: William Allen, Clayton Brough, Denise Fiack, Fred Hebling, Kelly Huntington,
"T" Lealaogata, Robin Lyman, Charles Morris, Michael Roach, Nermin Sasivarevic,
Tom Sharpe, Carlos Silva, Danny Stirland, and Malamene Wong.
This
world record attempt has now been accepted by Guinness
World Records in England, Alternative
World Records in Germany,World
Records for Schools in the United States, and Mormon
World Records in the United States.
Additional,
specific information on this world record attempt can be obtained by reading and
viewing the following accounts of the event contained in the Saturday, December
17, 2005, newspaper editions of the Deseret Morning News:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635169466,00.html
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635169429,00.html
and by KSL (Channel 5)
Television.
