Physics -- why everyone needs some basic training.

[kandrathe]

Some people have an innate sense of the physics of everyday problems, and others do not. Here is an example of why construction workers, and heavy equipment operators would do well with some basic sciences education, including physics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8365571.stm

"A large crane that was removing an oak tree in the US state of California has split a home in half. "

Give me a big enough lever and an old oak tree and I can topple over a 50-ton crane.

[Nystul]

Physics schmysics. A tree that old probably has powerful druids protecting it.

I've never heard of contracting a crane to help remove a tree from a private residence. It must be a pretty expensive neighborhood...

[ShadowHM]

Hi

I sent that link to my eldest son, who works for a tower crane company. His response:

About the crane cutting a building cut in half, that type of collapse happens a lot. I had seen this earlier with some better photos & it was clear that the operator did not properly extend his outriggers.

So, yes, it certainly does seem likely that there needs to be just a wee bit more training for those operators, eh? Both mobile cranes and tower cranes!

[Jester]

Physics schmysics. A tree that old probably has powerful druids protecting it.

I've never heard of contracting a crane to help remove a tree from a private residence. It must be a pretty expensive neighborhood...

Maybe the Druids were relocating, didn't want to invest in a new tree.

-Jester

[--Pete]

Hi,

Here is an example of why construction workers, and heavy equipment operators would do well with some basic sciences education, including physics.

Riiiiight. Because a construction worker is going to do a back of the envelope calculation before tackling a job -- not.

From Shadow's post, it seems that the operator either didn't know or didn't follow correct operational procedure. Where technology might have been of help is in designing a feedback system for the crane that would have shut it down when it reached some limits. One of the parameters such a system would have to include is the crane configuration, including the extension and position of the outriggers. Of course, such a system would be almost useless; you can't make things foolproof because fools are too damned ingenious.

--Pete

[Kevin]

Maybe the Druids were relocating, didn't want to invest in a new tree.

-Jester

Nah the druids made it crush the house. It was an old dead tree anyway and they wanted to strike back at the builders who had destroyed so many trees already.