I’ve had a bizarre phobia since I was young. I do not trust the structural integrity of most buildings and am always worrying things will collapse/break. One thing that really triggers my anxiety is when I can feel a floor shaking. If my one year old, 25 pound son can run by and make the floor shake, how can it hold substantially heavier items (like a fridge, washer, etc.)? Please only reassuring comments – I can’t handle this phobia getting any worse 🙂
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All forces cause some bending in structural members. Everything is, to some extent, like a spring.
A 25 pound object hitting the floor can exert hundreds of pounds of force. This force causes a small but not unnoticeable deflection of structural members – a tiny fraction of an inch of movement. Since it is an impact, the force is brief, and vibration is caused, making this small movement even more noticeable to you as it happens over and over during the vibration.
A much heavier object will cause more deflection of the supports, but still well under the amount it would take to cause a yield.
Wood, the main structural element of most buildings, can bend a huge amount before it breaks. This is extremely useful, since it means that wood can withstand those huge force spikes from impacts, while something even stronger like glass would break from an impact.
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