1940 The Tacoma Narrows Bridge example essay topic
467 words
Tacoma Narrows Bridge A lot of things can go wrong when building or designing a major building, plane, bridge, or even a road. Engineers face the challenges to overcome these flaws or problems everyday when they are trying to design structures. The primary causes of engineering disasters are usually: Human factors, design flaws, material failures, extreme conditions or environments, and combinations of these reasons put together. There are many things an engineer has to look for when designing a major structure such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. On July 1, 1940 the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was open to traffic and was the third longest suspension bridge in the united state during the 1940's.
It had a span of 5939 feet measuring the approaches. It had two towers of 425 feet tall that were connected to the bridge. During the design they picked that it should be a suspension bridge because it was only supporting cars which were much lighter then trains. Due to only have cars on the bridge they used shallow plate girders instead of trusses because they didn't cost as much and the bridge didn't need to hold as weight up. The plate girders however did not allow the wind to pass through as the trusses did so it moved a lot and got the nickname of "Galloping Gertie". The bridge collapsed on November 7, 1940 due to winds plus a broken cable in the middle of the bridge which made it unbalanced.
The wind would come up and under the bridge and get it in a motion where it turned one way and then bounced back and the wind would hit it there. It sent it into a twisting motion till it broke into pieces. The winds started at 35 mph that day and it was enough to get the bridge moving but then it went up to 42 mph which stayed constant for a while and broke the bridge. In 1950 they built the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
It used truss girders this time and they also put stiffeners into the bridge so it didn't move. The truss girders also allowed the wind to pass through so it didn't provide a moving force like the last bridge. All together this was a human error because they wanted it to be cheaper so they didn't use trusses because it didn't have to hold as much wait as most bridges have to. The end result is that they ended up using trusses so they could have used them the first time around and saved a lot of money when building the bridge. The engineers learned from their mistakes and now have a new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
Bibliography
1. Irvine, Tom. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure. 29 Dec. 1999.
10 Mar. 2005.
Things every student should keep in mind
- Free example essays found anywhere online are available to anyone, which makes them used, re-used, paraphrased, and abused millions of times.
- Watch out, some are poorly written!
- We strongly discourage you to submit free essays or any of their parts for credit at your school -- they are easily detected by PLAGIARISM CHECKERS.
- Get a brand-new, 100% original paper that will be written especially for you following YOUR EXACT instructions.
100% money back, no questions asked if you paper is plagiarized (this won't happen anyway).
We use a simple but effective principle: one satisfied customer will come back for more, but one who was cheated and misled will tell 10 others too.
Our clients are treated with the highest level of respect that a legitimate student deserves. You, as a customer, will feel this attitude starting from your first contact with our essay service and all the way through.
A significant percentage of cheap essay writing services have also been the source of complaints from students for selling cut and pasted work off the net -- this is a world away from the personalized essay service that EssayPride offers. All our guarantees are always kept -- we are nothing without quality, affordable prices, and the high degree of customer satisfaction!
What our customers say
Piotr S.
Toronto, Canada
I am an ESL student and I am only learning how to write good papers in English. Thanks to EssayPride I am mastering this skill much faster. They help me because they always respond any questions and explain me things I do not understand. They also strictly follow the deadlines and I am never late with my assignments. Thank you very much, guys, your hard work is appreciated. I will surely be ordering more.
Lindsay M.
Winston Salem, NC
Oh my Gosh! My life has become sooo much easier after I've come across this website. I am a working student, so sometimes I am too overwhelmed with so many things and I really need a hand with my papers. I am glad I have found a company I can trust. I have confidence in these guys, because they proved to be good quite a few times.
Kirk N.
Austin, TX
I never leave reviews for products or services because I am quite particular and picky. Surprisingly enough, EssayPride has managed to satisfy all of my requirements, even though I asked for several alterations to the paper they've sent initially. My assignments are quite complicated and it is essential to possess a certain level of knowledge in order to write a decent paper. These guys have managed, so I give them four stars.
Emma Ch.
Birmingham, UK
Customer service is very responsive to your queries, they answer any question within an hour. Even if you have a problem with an order, you can contact them and they will fix it promptly. The quality of writing is very good, writer knows what he is talking about. I had a very positive experience using this website, I will be a returning customer.
Travis J.
Perth, Australia
I used this website more than once and every time my experience turned out to be extremely positive. I think their price-quality ratio is very good, because I couldn't find anyone writing better than these guys, who would work for this money. Thank you!
Myung O.
Seoul, South Korea
I am a Korean student studying in the US. I would like to thank essaypride staff, especially writer Jeff P., for helping me out so much. My grades are good with all your help and I keep calm about the results of my year.
Boyi Zh.
St. Louis, MO
As probably any student, I was quite hesitant about asking somebody else to do my assignments at first. However, after EssayPride has sent me my first paper and I've read it, I understood that I could actually learn a lot from them. The research they've done was impressive and I understood the topic even better than after going to class and reading my textbook. I am not using this website to "cheat", I am using it as a tutoring service, they help me to understand the material better.
