Stories tagged engineering
Stonehenge: A 19th Century engraving of the mysterious monument.
Courtesy Mark RyanStonehenge is back in the news. Archaeologists working on the mystery-laden prehistoric site located in south central England have now pinpointed the time of its construction to around 2300 BC. This radiocarbon-derived date connects it more closely with burial date of the Amesbury Archer, a wealthy metalworker from Europe’s alpine region, whose tomb was discovered not far from Stonehenge. Examination of the archer’s corpse revealed damage to his knee and other potentially fatal health issues.
This has led Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright, the two professors heading the excavation, to believe that the circle of megalithic stones existed as a healing center. Not everyone agrees, but you can find out all the details here. The dig's progress is also being recorded for an upcoming BBC Timewatch documentary.
All very well and good. But scientists remain uncertain as to how these huge stone monoliths were put in place by Stonehenge’s ancient technopeasant builders. Well, Wally Wallington, a retired construction worker in Flint, Michigan, just might have the answer. This following video came to my attention this past weekend, and I find it quite impressive and amazing. See for yourself.
SOURCES and LINKS
BBC website story
More about Stonehenge
Guardian website story
More on the Amesbury Archer
Tags : You always be my little man
in Structure of Matter, Scientific Inquiry, Scientific Enterprise, and Human Organism
The original Minifig: mocked horribly by later generations of minifigures, but, fortunately, incapable of feeling emotion of any kind.
Courtesy WakuranI'm a couple days late here, but it's time we recognized the Lego minifigure's 30th birthday.
That's right—on August 25th, 1978, Lego introduced the little yellow Lego guy. Lego had been manufacturing plastic interlocking bricks since 1949, allowing children across the world to practice engineering without realizing that they shouldn't be having fun, but it wasn't until 78 that they sold a little human like thing to enjoy our Lego creations.
Technically there were minifigures available in 1974, but the were faceless, armless pylon-men, and they couldn't enjoy anything. 1978 brought the lovable little man we know today.
Wired's piece on the birthday features this epic video embed:
And, yes, that does make me want to buy a bunch of Lego friends, and have a party for the 20th century, but I thought I'd leave you with a different, though no less triumphant, Lego celebration. Enjoy.
Stopping skyscraper shaking during earthquakes
730 ton "mass damper": This 730 ton mass damper helps stabilize the building against swaying.
Courtesy jaaronOne of the world's tallest buildings is only 600 ft. from a fault line. The recent Sichuan Earthquake in China shook the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan—a whole eight minutes after the quake originated.
One way to stabilize these tall builds from swaying too much during earthquakes or from high winds is to install enormous pendulum weights. When the building sways sideways the pendulum doesn't want to move (inertia) and exerts a pull in the opposite direction.
These gigantic suspended weights are called tuned mass dampers. The world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, has nine mass dampers. The mass damper in the Taipei 101 building has a mass of 730 tons.
Watch the 730 ton mass damper in action
Sources: Popular Mechanics and Gizmodo.
The PBS TV show "Design Squad" is doing a casting call. You have to be 18-19, passionate about engineering, and excited to spend the months of June through August in Boston (and traveling) tackling design challenges and competing for the $10,000 prize. The program's goal is to get viewers excited about engineering and the design process. Apply by Friday, April 11.
Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century
Want to know what to do with your life. A diverse committee of experts from around the world, at the request of the U.S. National Science Foundation, identified 14 challenges that, if met, would improve how we live.
Here is their list in no particular order. You can learn more about each challenge by clicking on it.
- Make solar energy economical
- Provide energy from fusion
- Develop carbon sequestration methods
- Manage the nitrogen cycle
- Provide access to clean water
- Restore and improve urban infrastructure
- Advance health informatics
- Engineer better medicines
- Reverse-engineer the brain
- Prevent nuclear terror
- Secure cyberspace
- Enhance virtual reality
- Advance personalized learning
- Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
You can vote for which is most important
The committee decided not to rank the challenges. NAE is offering the public an opportunity to vote on which one they think is most important and to provide comments at the Engineering Challenges website
A&T Professor Has Technology to Monitor Bridge Safety
"Dr. Mannur Sundaresan, professor of mechanical engineering, has developed a single channel continuous sensor that has the potential to detect and locate early crack growth in structures, thereby providing timely information to prevent catastrophic failures. This single channel continuous sensor can detect the leading edge of the acoustic emission event, occurring anywhere in the region covered by the sensor." North Carolina A&T State University
7 dead, 60 injured (as of 1am, Aug 2)
I-35W bridge
At 6:05 pm, during peak traffic, the 35-W bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed. All eight lanes, all the way across, just dropped straight down into the river along with more than 50 cars, trucks, and even a school bus. How could this happen? Here is what I have found so far.
The I -35W bridge.
What does it look like? How is it made? It was a steel arch deck truss bridge. Its longest span stretched 458 feet between supports. It was built in 1967. (Link to photos and more data about the I-35W bridge.)
What might have gone wrong?
"The state, whoever did the inspection, which was likely to be MnDOT, noticed and observed cracking in the structural steel members, the main girders that hold the bridge up in the air. What it means is that the bridge is no longer going to stay stable," Galarn said.
Link to early video with a safty engineer about what might have went wrong.
How safe are other bridges?
Transportation Commissioner Len Levine who served under Governor Rudy Perpich (said) "between 40 and 50 percent of the 20,000 bridges in Minnesota are deficient in some way."
What is going to happen to traffic?
There will be added bus services from North metro area.
Map of detour routes.(pdf)
Where are photos of this disaster?
KSTP has lots of photos and updates.
Detroit Free Press had 25 photos.
34 photos on Flickr by blogger s4xton Read his story here.
Please use our comments to add updates, photo links, or thoughts.
I could not sleep so I started this after midnight. This story will keep growing so stay tuned and share what you know.
Stradavarius sound from graphite and balsa
Violin engineering: image modified from TheViolinSite.com via wikipediaCan we make violins today that sound as sweet as those made by Antonio Stradivari? Joseph Curtin (Ann Arbor, Mich.),who received a 2005 MacArthur Foundation “genius award” for his violin designs, thinks so. In reference to violins made by Douglas Martin, Curtin stated that
“the traditional violin became obsolete in early July of 2005.”
One of Mr. Martin's prototype violins, Balsa 4, when passed around at a violin design workshop at Oberlin College, startled the participants with its punch and responsiveness. Using balsa for lightness and graphite for stiffness, Martin is breaking the traditional violin design rules.
New materials "sing"
Another violin maker to use modern materials like graphite fibers is Martin Schleske. Ingolf Turban, a touring concert violinist, compared Mr. Schleske’s latest violin, which has a top made of a mix of spruce and graphite, with a 1721 Stradivarius by recording passages from Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D Major with each. He told Mr. Schleske he preferred the new one.
I have never been playing any violin with such a singing E string,” Mr. Turban said in a testimonial. “It is no longer like playing violin but like singing.”
Violin acoustics analysed in physics laboratory
George Bissinger, a physicist at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., is using medical-imaging gear, laser scanners, arrays of microphones and computers to measure and model how the parts of a violin react once energy is introduced by a bow, fingertip, pick or, in the laboratory, the repeated taps of a tiny hammer.
Particularly important, Dr. Bissinger said, is determining which factors translate the side-to-side sawing of a bow on a string into vertical motions of the violin top. “Up and down is what matters,” he said.
Another important influence, particularly on low violin notes, is the movement of air in and out of the f-holes, Dr. Bissinger said. If the dimensions are right, the air sloshes forward and back like disturbed water in a bathtub (or air in an organ’s pipes) at rates that increase the instrument’s volume.
Want to learn more?
I recommend viewing the video and multimedia graphics found in the New York Times post, "String Theory: New Approaches to Instrument Design".
Shake it up
Bridge shaking experiment Want to see what happens to a bridge during an 8.0 magnitude earthquake? Huge "shake tables" help engineers understand the impact of earthquake forces on bridges and other construction.
You can watch
This Thursday (Feb 15) at 10 am Reno, Nevada time, a quarter scale, 110 ft., 4 span bridge section will be shaken by forces twice the intensity of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) website has provided links to a variety of resources:
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