Posted on 08/23/2011 12:19:44 PM PDT by markomalley
A 5.9 magnitude earthquake that was centered in Richmond, Virginia and felt as far as New York City and New England.
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly reported at 2:30 pm that their bureau received information from a producer saying that a Captiol Hill Police officer says that the Washington Monument may actually be tilting as a result of the earthquake.
Seismologist John Rundle joined Kelly on her show and confirmed that the Washington Monument could very well be tilting as a result of the earthquake and the structure should be checked out.
Two nuclear reactors have reportedly been taken off line near the epicenter of the earthquake.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The terms “lean” and “Washington, DC” do not go together....
ping
A two degree change doesn’t sound like much, but if one side is reduce by two to three degrees and the other is increased by that much, it would seem you could perceive it.
Even a two degree change would make one side a three degree positive tilt, with the other side having a negative one degree tilt. I believe that would be perceivable if you were standing at the right angle at the right distance.
If it increased to three or four degrees, it would seem the tilt would be impossible to miss.
As for the exact extent, those measurements you mentioned would be very useful.
Hey, I may be wrong.
Thank you for mentioning the measurements at the restoration and the bit about the original construction timed quake. Interesting stuff.
FUN-EEEEEE!
FR Witty Post of the Week Award!
(....I would have underlined "fault" like you did, but I don't know how, heheh.....)
Leni
Leni
It is just putting the text between < U > and < /U >, without the spaces I have used to make this appear.
The San Jacinto monument is bigger and still straight, even after all those years of Bush and Perry governing.
Reminds me of Saving Private Ryan:
“The Statue of Liberty ist kaput!”
“That’s disconcerting.”
In looking up a few facts I find:
What is the height of the memorial? 555 feet 5 1/8 inches
Width at base of shaft: 55 feet 1 1/2 inches
Width at top of shaft: 34 feet 5 1/2 inches
Thickness of walls at base of shaft: 15 feet
Thickness of walls at top of shaft: 18 inches
Depth of foundation: 36 feet 10 inches
Weight of the structure: 90,854 tons
What is the monuments sway in 30-mile-per-hour wind: 0.125 of an inch
Material: Marble brought from Maryland
Capstone weight: 3,300 lbs (1.65 tons)
Weight of aluminum tip on capstone: 100 oz (2.8 kg)
Number of Blocks: 36,491
How many steps are in the memorial: 897
This means that each side slopes inward 10’ 4” in its total height by my calculations.
Since it sways an 1/8 of an inch in a 30 mph wind, it has some capacity to rock and despite its mortar-less construction, I imagine there is some stone-to-stone pinning so this isn’t a case where there is no ability to deal with ground movement at all.
The biggest issue would be if the loaded foundation had some earth liquifaction allowing the sub-grade it is founded on move. With a 36 foot deep foundation, I don’t know that it is resting on rock layers with no seams below layers and the like. Think of it as the depth of three to four sub-basement levels tops. It is like a 40 story building (assuming a 14’ floor-to-floor height) in height but so much more narrow.
Just from arm chair calculations, if one side of the mass foundation settled 8 inches, then that side of the monument would be vertical and the opposite side would rise with a 2 degree inward slope. Once we are past that point, we have some massive underpinning to do — perhaps with counter-weight forces opposite to slow progressive movement.
Paging Pisa structual engineers — plese pick up the shite courtesy phone.
If it falls over I know where we could shove it ; p
LOL! Took a moment for it to register with me. Subtle but nice. Danka.
Thanks. I still have my moments. :)
That was FOX News leaning to the left, not the Washington Monument
Very cool.
If I wre to try to build something like that, I might get to twenty feet, rated at sway unlimited, before blowing over in a five mph wind.
Leni
LOL! Seriously, I hope everyone is safe. My cousin said a few glasses were broken at home in Hughesville, Md.
The Tower of Babel — Washington, D. C.?????
By any measure, the Chinese would have at this point realized that the “Emperor” had lost the Mandate to rule. If this is any inclination, Obama has certainly ticked off the Alimghty (the US citizenry included) and quite frankly I don’t see how this country won’t continue to expereince full wrath.
Yes they’re going to rename the New Madrid fault, Bushes fault!
Bump
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