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June 29, 2007

Strange But True!

Q. What do the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse of 1940, your coffee cup sloshover, and the need for the modern sports bra all have in common?

A. All involve resonant frequencies run amok, says Louis Bloomfield in “How Everything Works.” Rhythmic pushes can cause objects to vibrate strongly, such as when wind set the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Seattle to vibrating and twisting back and forth so that one lane rose as the other fell. “During the storm, so much energy was added to the natural resonance that the bridge ripped itself apart.”


 
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