Saturday, March 18, 2006

Hats Off to Texas

Hats off to Fort Worth for not keeping the timing of it's building implosion a secret. Too often, in my opinion, overblown safety concerns and lack of regard for the public's right to experience stuff shrouds otherwise cool technology examples in needless secrecy. The city posted information on their website. While I don't know how close people could get, apparently there was provision made for the interested public; and I think that's great.





From the NBC television affiliate in DFW:

FORT WORTH, Texas --

Workers with D.H. Griffin of Texas leveled the 30-story Landmark Tower in downtown Fort Worth after four months of planning.

The implosion was a success and the building fell the way demolition experts intended, but several windows on the Baker Building to the east of the Landmark Tower were damaged.

Cleanup is scheduled to begin right away, but officials said it will take around 90 days to completely clear the debris.




Thousands of spectators braved rainy, chilly weather to watch the 1950's era building be brought down in the controlled blast.



NBC 5 reported that it will took 364 pounds of explosives to take down building.

2 comments:

rstaff said...

I was lucky enough to be in Vegas when the Dunes came down. We were just across the Strip. It was really cool...until the dust cloud came. They had to seal the front doors at Ballys and the showgirls there said it was terrible in their dressing area. I hope there wasn't too much asbestos in what we breathed in :eek:

Anonymous said...

Regarding Scramjets flying at Mach 10. Mach 1 is defined as the speed of sound. The speed of sound in the atmosphere is strongly dependent on density hence altitude. I'm not an expert, but I don't think the scramjet flies Mach 10 at sea level. What is the maximum speed reached by the scramjet?

Gary Butson, USAF (Ret)
Civ & Env Engr, Southern Illinois University Carbondale