[ EXPERIMENT - THEORY - SUCCESS - FAIL
- CHEAT
- DISCUSSION - META ]
Welcome, laypeople and experts!
This sub is dedicated to civil and scientific debate and discussion about one question:
how to build a tower that completely, symmetrically and progressively collapses straight down through itself from top to bottom at more than 50% free fall rate.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to read our WELCOME sticky!
The Challenge:
The tower
It should have at least 20 (twenty) floors
It should somewhat fulfill the definition of a tower (in terms of slenderness ratio λ)
It should be somewhat stable
It must stand up on its own
It may have any scale
It may be of any material
It may have any density
It may have any structural layout
It may stand on any planet
The collapse
You may initiate the "collapse" by picking up the top fourth of the tower and let it drop on the lower three fourth. You may drop it from whichever height you like.
- BONUS POINT CHALLENGE: initiate a delayed, sudden total progressive collapse by setting it alight with any amount of Zippo gas, kerosene or Diesel. It must not move (non-negligibly) for at least ten minutes
The "collapse" must be sudden, complete, vertical, roughly symmetric (no falling over, buckling, toppling, leaning, shearing as a whole!) and rapid (> 50% free fall rate)
It must work 100%
The best and most realistic experimental models will be featured in the sidebar!
THE CHALLENGE MET:
North Tower of the WTC, Manhattan, 2001 - THE best of all sudden, total, vertical, symmetric, progressive top-down collapses so far. SUCCESS!
South Tower of the WTC, Manhattan, 2001 - slightly less impressive, as the top portion is a lot bigger, but still roughly 1/4 and thus a flawless demonstration of the principle we aim for. SUCCESS!
THE CHALLENGE MET NOT:
Domino Tower World Record Attempt - ALMOST perfect, just a little slow: CLOSE but FAIL.
Vérinage - two equally big portions crush each other and lose all their momentum doing so: FAIL.
Office Building in Utrecht - although impressive, still just a collapse that propagates horizontally: FAIL.
Delft Faculty of Architecture - something falling off of something else doesn't count either: FAIL.
NMSR does the Heiwa Challenge - FAIL
What to post:
historical and contemporary videos, reports and images of collapsing/collapsed towers of all sizes
scientific research, peer-reviewed papers, expert opinion and discussion thereof
ideas on how to make the tower completely, symmetrically and progressively collapse straight down through itself from top to bottom at more than 50% free fall rate
energetic/physical analogies/equivalents
experiments
models, models, models
What not to post:
conspiracy theories
logical fallacies
OUR WIKI:
Wikipedia quicklink list
Frequently Questioned Answers
Theoretical papers and literature that may or not assist and inspire your model building:
visit also these fine subs
/r/engineering
/r/EngineeringPorn
/r/AskEngineers
/r/science
/r/askscience
/r/AskScienceDiscussion
/r/crafts
/r/skeptic
Sitewide rules apply.