[NBLUG/talk] Totally OT, a physics puzzle...

Eric Eisenhart eric at nblug.org
Thu Jan 8 17:00:05 PST 2004


On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 02:25:40PM -0800, sms at sonic.net wrote:
> The other points out that it's *only* water, & will flow freely, & the
> bridge *is* built to flex; that it'll survive.
> 
> 
> Can anyone provide the physics to show why either (or both) of us are
> right, or wrong?

Things required to analyze this:
1) force (weight) rating of the bridge for straight downward force
2) same rating for lateral forces
3) some kind of measurement of how high the wave is
4) some kind of measurement of how much water is there (gallons, feet thick,
etc.)

there's no "just water and will flow freely".  Really.  Try diving in a pool
wrong.

I suspect that as much water as depicted in that poster, any water that
missed the bridge would sweep away enough earth from under the bay that not
only would the bridge be smashed, but all its parts washed away.

(the infamously damaging "tidal wave" tends to be about an inch or so high;
water has a lot of mass)
-- 
Eric Eisenhart
NBLUG Co-Founder & Director-At-Large
The North Bay Linux Users Group
http://nblug.org/
eric at nblug.org, IRC: Freiheit at freenode, AIM: falschfreiheit, ICQ: 48217244



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