– How come the base of tall buildings don’t pulverize under the weight of the building?

Question

Take for example the Taipei 101 Tower:

– 508.2 meters high
– Weighs 700,000 tons
– Ground floor is 57×63.5 meters, which is 3619.5 m²
– That means an area of 3619.5m² has to hold up 700.000 tons, which is ~193 tons per m² which is 193.000 kilograms per m²

I don’t know but 193.000 kilograms feels like an unbearable crushing all-pulverizing weight to me.

Obviously it works since the Taipei 101 tower and other huge buildings exist, but intuitively I don’t understand how the bases of large and tall buildings don’t instantly pulverize under the weight of everything above it.

In: 1790

Answer 1

To answer the question, I think that the base doesn’t pulverise because it is strong.

But I mostly want to say that this has been the most enjoyable Reddit thread I’ve found so far.

ELI5 is intended to mean make the answer simple. Much of this thread is like 5 year olds discussing advanced physics, and it’s hilarious. 😂. “Kids say the darndest things.”