Saturday, August 29, 2009

Have you ever seen a water bridge over a river?......

This came in a recent email. Sort of a high line with water and boats.



Even after you see it, it is still hard to believe!

Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long.......now this is engineering!

This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe East and West Germany as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin.

The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.

To those who appreciate engineering projects, here's a puzzle for you armchair engineers and physicists.

Did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of ship and barge traffic, or just the weight of the water?

Answer:
It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water!
Why? A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded.

5 comments:

Jose Vilson said...

This is actual fantastic engineering. It looks absolutely awesome. I'd be a bit nervous, but fortunately I can dive and swim. :-)

Anonymous said...

I have always been fascinated with all types of engineering marvels. Here's why foreign countries will be ahead of the US when it deals with engineering accomplishments. Those countries have academic courses that are rigorous in math and science. If the US is to compete with countries such as Germany, then we must make sure that the NCLB is eliminated and credit recovery is a thing of the past. Seeing that engineering accomplishment is a sign of more technological feat by foreign countries. Awesome picture.

DAVID PAKTER said...

There used to be a saying, addressing how stupidly some people aprroach solving problems, that went like this:

"Don't Raise the bridge _Lower the water".

It looks like someone figured out how to Raise the water and Make the water the Bridge.

Totally amazing.

Compare this engineering achievement to the level of intelligence that resides within the walls of that marbled palatial edifice on Chambers Street, dedicated to corruption and malfeasance where ninety five million dollar no bid contracts are handed out to "corporations" operating out of Post Office mail boxes in Brooklyn and Florida.

What a gap there exists between the people who pulled off this engineering coup and the poor excuses for humanity, who like Pigs at the Trough, never cease enriching themselves at Public Taxpayer expense within the walls of Boss Tweed's former "Courthouse".

DAVID PAKTER said...

There used to be a saying, addressing how stupidly some people aprroach solving problems, that went like this:

"Don't Raise the bridge _Lower the water".

It looks like someone figured out how to Raise the water and Make the water the Bridge.

Totally amazing.

Compare this engineering achievement to the level of intelligence that resides within the walls of that marbled palatial edifice on Chambers Street, dedicated to corruption and malfeasance where ninety five million dollar no bid contracts are handed out to "corporations" operating out of Post Office mail boxes in Brooklyn and Florida.

What a gap there exists between the people who pulled off this engineering coup and the poor excuses for humanity, who like Pigs at the Trough, never cease enriching themselves at Public Taxpayer expense within the walls of Boss Tweed's former "Courthouse".

Anonymous said...

David, you are so right about those Pigs at Tweed who rather waste money on useless programs (ARIS, etc.), no-bid contracts and on their outrageous salaries. Heaven forbid should their spend money on education for the 1.2 million children and allow teachers to create and teach innovation programs that would put students ahead in the field of science. Let's see $95 million to reduce class size or $95 million for some clandestine, cloak-&-dagger operation from Tweed?