[PICTURES] Does this wooden structure violate laws of physics?

Ignoramus19259 · 2007-08-27T00:06:28+00:00

My 6 year old son built this structure with three supporting columns on the bottom. When time came to destroy it in a spectacular fashion, I suggested pulling out the middle column so that it would crash inward. he did just that, but it did not crash. I have no idea how it may be still standing, but photos prove that it did stand! There are absolutely no hidden gimmicks, chewing gum secretly holding things together, etc. This post is NOT a joke. i

Aug 27, 2007 24 Replies

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David R Brooks 18 years ago

It's carried on the 2 outer legs of the upper stage. The left one stands on the one below (slightly off centre indeed, but still OK). The horizontal piece under the right leg is a 1st-order lever, with a fulcrum at the centre of the column beneath, ie where the bevelled end meets the main part. The load bears on the short end of that lever, so a reduced form of that load bears at the other end (centre of the structure), where it presses upward, but is restrained by the central column. This upward force is small (reduced by the leverage), but holds the centre of the upper stage in place.

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dadiOH 18 years ago

For it to fall, the center ends of the horizontal orange blocks have to go down. Since the outboard ends are resting on vertical blocks, they would have to go up when the center ends go down. The outboard ends can't go up because the weight of the upper blocks is too great.

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Mike 18 years ago

On the subject of demoltion there is an office block in London where they are currently demolishing it from the bottom first.

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Puckdropper 18 years ago

Ignoramus19259 wrote in news:WamdnU7aJMsZiE_bnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

No, it doesn't. Good job engineering by the 6 year old... The weight is mainly transfered to the outside, so the center support isn't holding much weight. He's got two* times the weight on the outer supports as the inner, so it stands.

*This may not be 2.0000 times, it's just roughly 2:1.

Puckdropper

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Andy Dingley 18 years ago

Sufficient weight in the side stacks allows the cross-beams to act as cantilvered beams.

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