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Why it Would Be Impossible to Build a Billion Story Skyscraper

Summary by Laughing Squid

As part of their ongoing “What If?” series, Randall Munroe of xkcd and Henry Reich of MinutePhysics looked at the possibility of constructing a skyscraper that had a billion stories. The short answer is that it is absolutely not possible, but reasons why are absolutely fascinating. One is wind. The wind up high is very strong, and buildings have to be very strong to stand up against the wind. Another problem is, surprisingly, elevators. Tall b…

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Laughing Squid

Why it Would Be Impossible to Build a Billion Story Skyscraper

11 days ago

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neatorama.com

The Problems With Building a Billion-Story Building

When Keira was four years old, she told her father she wanted a billion-story building. Instead of just laughing it off, he started thinking about why it couldn't be done, and turned to Randall Munroe's What If? project (previously at Neatorama) to ask about the nuts and bolts of the idea. So why can't we build a billion-story building? First, there's the instability of architecture as we know it, and then there's the expense. But those are just…

11 days ago

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