Posted on 08/01/2007 4:28:27 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
Just turned on the news. 35W bridge collapsed in the Mississippi River. Cars, trucks, semis.....
Fires burning, tanker trucks, at least one school bus, more than ten cars......
Just now breaking.......
Two things. First, when a steel reinforced concrete fails catastrophically, there is an incredible amount of stored internal energy to release and so it will appear to explode - because it does. It was strained to the point that it could not take any more - by definition.
Second. If there were emplaced explosives of the quantity required for demolition of this sort, it would immediately be detectable. In fact you could smell it anywhere in the vicinity, without any difficulty whatsoever. Even well placed shaped demolition charges would be easily sniffed out, and bystanders would be under no illusions about what they were smelling.
They did NOT say it wasn’t terrorism. They said they will investigate, but they have no reason to think it was terrorism — I assume no “chatter” about something like this.
“Also, whenever there is a catastrophic failure there are lots of sounds and small events, some of which look like explosions.”
Yes, in fact many times in a bldg. when the field bolt connections are slip critical, and they slip into a bearing condition, which causes a very loud bang. Big steel structures make very loud noises when they fail.
Yeah, I saw that Blackhawk fly by
Crowd control. I guess we should be flattered that they fear us more than al qaeda.
I’ll try MS-NBC...Shep is making me crazy.
Did you hear the guy say a sheriffs car was blocking a hole that had the road down to one lane?
ping
“he saw the long span bend and shatter in the center and give way”
It could be that the road deck that was being replaced HAD BECOME critical in holding the bridge together. If rust or failure elsewhere shifted the loading factors and the deck took up the slack...then they take apart the deck to replace it. Bam, it comes down.
I think that's highly likely.
Brilliant! observation, Shep. Any men hurt?
Ahhh...other Cedar Ave bridge....Yes.
No. But it does expand as the temperature rises, which could cause parts of the structure to buckle unless proper expansion joints are incorporated in the design.
Concrete buckles at 90 degrees? I’m no expert, but I do not believe the a 90 degree day made a steel and reinforced concrete bridge fall down. I’ll buy rust, faulty construction, bad materials and any number of reasons, but a hot day?
1 dead per Cnn, Paula Zahn
DHS being non-committal as to what caused collapse.
“then you would see jumping/cheering”
Like Palestinians.
Oh no, witness saying she helped pull people out of cars and she saw many deceased.
Yes Yes absolutely
Don’t know if it has been posted b4, but Fox is streaming here:
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/livestream/player.html
Why does it say “rebroadcast of 9-11-01 coverage at the top?
Strange.
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