Like if I knock over a toy car, it seems to happen quickly, but a large building collapsing seems to happen “slower”?
In: Physics
Something to add is a clarification on building collapses, particularly other than the knock-over type, but those as well. While a small toy or what have you can just be knocked over in one go, buildings rarely, if ever collapse by failing everywhere within their structure all at once. Generally, you’ll have a small (large if you’re near it, I suppose!) failure and then another and another.
Sometimes it is the added stress (that which was borne by the now broken members) which must be borne by the remaining members which causes subsequent breaks. Other times, all the members were going to break, but they are simply offset in time because…what are the chances they wouldn’t be? All kinds of things from extreme stretching (deformations) to fracture mechanics (how things snap) have to take place everywhere anything will break. This all takes various amounts of time and places “drag” on the “speed” of the collapse as things “hang on” momentarily.
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