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
I mean, the ELI5 answer would be, the materials they use in the base of the building can withstand a certain amount of compressive force and the weight of the building, however much, is less than that amount.
Look at your body. You have a spine (hopefully both literally and figuratively). You have bones that support the limbs and structure of your body, that if was just left with all the flesh, would collapse into a pile. Those type of buildings aren’t built layer upon layer – They are built with a spine, a “bone structure” that also goes very deep into the ground. This structure spreads and distributes the weight appropriately top to bottom because engineers. The floors are more “hung” from it, and only really support themselves. BTW I am NOT an architect, just someone that asked one that same question and am just passing on the answer received.
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